Goa accounts office treasure trove: Jewellery, coins from British, Portuguese rule era | India News
Goa accounts office treasure trove: Jewellery, coins from British, Portuguese rule era | India News
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Coins from the reign of British monarch William IV, silver coins from the Victorian era, copper coins believed to be from the early 19th century during the rule of King Joao IV of Portugal, gold bars, currency notes from different dynasties between 17th and 20th century are part of a ‘treasure’ that was recently found in the lockers of a Portuguese-era heritage building, which once housed the Directorate of Accounts office of the government of Goa.
The office of the Directorate of Accounts has recently shifted from the heritage building — ‘Facenda’ — near the Old Secretariat in Panaji to a new building in nearby Porvorim. As part of the modalities to shift the files and inventory, the ‘treasures’ were taken out from sealed envelopes and old cupboards of the treasury after a gap of 32 years – and only the second time since Goa was liberated.
Speaking to the media after a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said a high-level committee was constituted to open the sealed cupboards in the Directorate of Accounts. Sources said on February 20, the committee met at ‘Facenda’ and found 17 sealed envelopes containing several antiquities.
“This is only the second time since Goa’s liberation that the strongbox has been opened by the state. It was first opened in 1992. All the items have been documented and a detailed report of the same has been prepared, along with their historical description,” he said.
Sawant added that the samples of the coins, currencies and other items would later be displayed at the state museum.
There are coins from the reign of William IV of the British Empire, 1,600 silver coins from the Victorian era, 38 kg copper coins from 1840s believed to be belonging to King Joao VI of Portugal, 85 silver Spanish coins, 200 coins from the Maratha empire, 1,746 Arabic-Persian silver-copper coins, 814 coins having Arabic inscription, 2.23 kg gold bars, among others.
Officials said some currency notes from British and Portuguese colonial rule, jewellery items (pendants, chains, earrings, bangles, rings, lockets and bracelets), and household items such as tumblers, saucers, plates, pans and lamps are also part of the same inventory.
An official said, “It appears that an inventory was prepared of these antiquities in 1992 as seen from the signatures on sealed envelopes. The coins offer insights into mercantile relations and patterns of trade and currency exchange during the colonial rule in India.”
In November last year, a farmer in Nanoda Bamber village in North Goa’s Sattari had found 832 copper coins, believed to have been minted in Goa around 16-17th century buried in the soil on a hillock at his cashew plantation. The Archaeology department had taken custody of the Portuguese-era coins.
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