Hobby inherited from his father
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Wafaa has inherited the passion for old coins from his father. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
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The 50 cents back then could be worth thousand times more today. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
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A colonial coin with the bust of Queen Victoria. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
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An old coin registers a piece of the country's colonial history. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
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A little ancient coin with huge collection value. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
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The Jawi script on the coin tells its value, age and hidden history . Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
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An old Kelantanese coin with square-hollowed design inspired by ancient Chinese coins. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
Traces of the country's history may be found in the antiques other than in memories of the older generations or literary records.
Ancient coins and banknotes are among the antiquities that register a part of our country's history. These ancient coins had the same functions as the ones we are using today. Besides for commercial transactions, they were also a symbol of social status.
These ancient coins have lost their legal tenders as time goes by. Nevertheless, they have big collection values. In addition, their values need to be rediscovered by the young generations with the hope that history could be reproduced.
Although Wafaa is not a historian, he is in possession of thousands of ancient coins. The Jawi inscriptions on these coins show their legal tenders, ages, as well as hidden history.
Every ancient coin tells a story. For example, the history of the founding of Melaka by Parameswara, the marriage between the Chinese princess and the Melaka Sultan, and the British colonisation of Malaya.
10 albums with 200 ancient coins each
Wafaa's father used to be a local official who loves collecting antiques, and Wafaa has picked up a passion for antiques from his father.
Antique coins are among his father's collection. He has not only "inherited" this hobby from his father, but has also taken over his father's three collection albums and carries on with his own collection.
Wafaa keeps collecting ancient coins, even more than his father. And now, he has accumulated ten coin albums with about 200 ancient coins each!
Wafaa proudly said he had everything in his collection, even more than that of a museum!
Agent to help look for ancient coins
Wafaa said ancient coins were usually made in gold, silver, tin or iron. They were once used by the people and each boasts hundreds of years of history.
Over a hundred years ago, only Terengganu, Johor, Kelantan and Aceh used coins, Wafaa said.
"Other than Malayan coins, I also collect coins of countries which once colonised us such as Portugal, Holland and Britain."
Wafaa has appointed an agent to look for him different types of coins. The agent would contact him if anything interesting has been found.
"Even though the denomination of an ancient coin might be only 10 cents, it could sell for hundreds or even thousands of ringgit today.
"I cannot imagine the value of my entire collection!" (Translated by YOU HSUEH LIN/ Sin Chew Daily)
