Hyderabad: A man in Rangareddy district in Telangana has made it to the Guinness World Records by collecting coins with bi-metallic features and printing errors.
Born in Munnaluru village in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district, Shankara Rao Kondapaneni’s hobby of collecting coins has earned him three Guinness World Records. Influenced by the rich historical background of Amaravati, his birthplace, Kondapaneni developed passion for coin collection early in his life.
Kondapaneni’s interest sparked when he came across a coin with “Marath” printed in Hindi instead of “Bharat”. This rare mistake ignited him keenly to observe coins, and he began collecting those with similar printing errors.
Over the past 30 years, Kondapaneni has collected thousands of such coins, driven by his desire to preserve history and educate future generations through his collection, under the slogan ‘Save Coins - Save Heritage.”
Kondapaneni achieved his first Guinness World Record on August 17, 2023, by collecting 1,578 coins with printing errors. He set his second record on January 14, 2024, for acquiring 3,526 different coins issued by various countries and states on special occasions. His third record came on March 5, 2024, for collecting 7,369 coins with printing mistakes.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Kondapaneni seized the opportunity to organize and document his extensive coin collection. He curated an album featuring coins from ancient Indian times including the Maurya, Kushan, and Gupta empires, as well as coins from the Portuguese and British colonial eras.
“Coins are an important tool for preserving and understanding history," believes Kondapaneni, who aims to pass this valuable knowledge on to future generations.
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