Udaipur notaphilist among world’s top 100 record holders

Udaipur : Vinay Bhanawat, a 60-year old numismatist has made  it to the top 100 positions of highest record holders in the world. A panel of editors of books of World Records from 6 countries have approved on his name to be included in the list of people  having the largest number of records to their names for various accomplishments. Bhanawat would be felicitated in a function to be held in New Delhi on November 12 at Siri Fort auditorium where all the record holders would congregate. Bhanawat holds 27 world records under various categories of collection of currencies and coins. He has a vast collection of fancy number and special series notes and even a coin of Rs 150 of Rabindranath Tagore issued on his 150^th birth anniversary.

Bhanawat has 92 thousand bank notes ending with ‘786’ worth 11,33,595 rupees. which he collected during February 2008 to September 2012.  He had beaten  the world records created earlier by Dubai’s Mohammed farooq ( 32600 notes ),  Pakistan’s mamnoon Hasan (60000 notes ) and that of Bangladesh ‘s Mohammed rakibullah khan (78000 notes ) in the category. Bhanawat also has a collection of total 1008 defective notes varying between Rs 1 to Rs 1000 denomination issued by the RBI. These notes have rare defects like missing serial numbers, mark shifts, misprints and amount to a value of 33,195 rupees. Lately, distressed by the demonetization move followed by the restriction laid on the public from keeping the old currencies, Bhanawat had even moved a petition to the Prime Minister seeking exemption to preserve the currencies that he claimed were acquired through much labour and perseverance.

“ These notes may be trash now for the common man and the government but for those like me who have dedicated lot of time and money to collect cannot afford to part from them” Bhanawat says. The old man had pursued his hobby of currency and stamp collections at the mere age of 11 and has spent lakhs of rupees for it. He is also the founder of Mewar Philatelic Society, a 28 year old organization with over 100 members encouraging people in numismatics and notaphilly.