These coins are not for change and meant for curio collectors only. A limited edition diamond-inserted silver coin with gilded 24-carat gold image in relief of Lord Venkateswara was issued in January this year. The whole package including designing was by a Lichtenstein company: Coin Invest Trust (CIT).

CIT, under licence from West Pacific island Republic of Palau, got the dual version coin: 3 ounces and 1 ounce, manufactured by a German private mint.

This brings us to Alok K Goyal of AG Impex, a Kolkata-based company that partners CIT in India. Goyal told BusinessLine the niche business of commemorative numismatic has just taken off in the country. “AG Impex is the only entity, which obtained RBI’s permission for importing “non-circulating” silver or gold coins,” he said. In 2013, it first organised Ganesha coin in association with CIT. The coin with a coloured image of Ganesha was sold out in a matter of months.

“Then we came up with the project on Lord Venkateswara. We imported 222 pieces of the heavier version and 500 of the lighter version. All the stocks have been exhausted. There are few pieces with CIT for global sales as well,” said Goyal.

In the international market there are a number of private players who produce commemoratives. Small nations such as Cook Island, Ivory Coast and Palau regularly lend permissions for such commemoratives for a hefty licence fee from the producers. This is to carry a value as a legal tender of the country. However, this has no relevance with the actual cost or price of the coins. In India, the Tirupati Balaji coins were sold on-line through AG Impex’ site at ₹25,000 each of the big pieces, and ₹11,111 each of the small ones.

“Recently I tried to buy-back these coins at double the initial price, but did not get a single seller. In this trade, buy-sale quotes are provided from time to time after the initial sale”, Goyal added.

Oriando Lorenzana, International Sales Director of CIT said a number of India-centric projects were on. The next project is on the first Jain Tirthankar Rishabha Dev. This special commemorative coin would be issued by Cook Island, a small South Pacific nation, on April 21, 2015. The company has already offered booking price for such coins.

The other India-specific proposals are on Lord Krishna and Shiva. As the market for commemoratives mature in the country, CIT and Goyal want to introduce thematic coins too. CIT through AG Impex has sold a special edition of a Taj Mahal coin, for a client in Poland as part of its international heritage theme project.

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