Numismatist V Raghurama Reddy put on show recently his collection of the Mysore Wadiyar dynasty coins. And Mr Reddy, retired PRO of Bharat Electronics Ltd., chose the Bangalore Palace as venue for the display. (Are folks in Mysore Palace reading ?) As a public relations man Mr Reddy knew how to package his exhibits, with placards carrying briefs of the life of times when the coins were minted.

We are told that a mint was first set up at Srirangapatna in 1646, when gold coins were put in circulation during the reign of Kanthirava Narasaraja (1638-59). The coins came in two denominations – half ‘varaha’ and ‘panam’. Chikkadevaraja (1672-1704) issued coins in the denominations of ‘varaha’, ‘half varaha’ and ‘hana’

Dewan Purnaiah (1799-1810) minted copper coins; and Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar (1799-1831) issues silver coins as well. The mint was shifted to Bangalore in 1833, from where the British Commission (1834-43) minted coins for circulation in the then Mysore State - (Source ‘The Hindu’, Oct.17, 2005).