Ancient silver coins unearthed in Orissa

New Kerala ^ | 14 Dec 2005

[nickcarraway]

Kendrapada (Orissa): Nearly 600 ancient silver coins were found by workers at a construction site in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur in Orissa.

The workers found the coins, believed to be over 100 years old, while digging earth in a field owned by one Bhabagrahi Sarangi at Kapur village Tuesday.

Sarangi informed the police after hearing about it from one of his workers. He claimed that he recovered over 200 coins from some of his workers.

Historian Bijaya Mohanty urged the district administration to cordon off the area, as many curious villagers were reported to have dug their fields hoping to unearth some treasure trove.

Mohanty has informed the officials of State Archaeological Department (SAD) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) about the findings.

"I cannot say the exact number of coins found. However, we have issued instructions to seize all the coins from the workers and the land owner and guard the areas," said a senior district administrative official.

[Vicomte13]

100 years old is not very ancient.

[Unruly Human]

100 years old is not very ancient.

No kidding, I've got friends older than that.

[M-cubed]

Silver huh?...whats that worth now?...

Wonder what our bogus coins will be worth in 100 yrs?

(see tag line)

[msnimje]

If they are 100 years old, they are antique rather than ancient. I suspect this might be a typo in the article.

[Bigg Red]

If they are 100 years old, they are antique rather than ancient. I suspect this might be a typo in the article.

&&
I was wondering about that. Probably accidently left off a zero.

[Shalom Israel]

...many curious villagers were reported to have dug their fields hoping to unearth some treasure trove.

That's so cute! But cute in a sad, way, like the pacific islanders who built fake runways and control towers so cool stuff would come to them from the sky, too.

[Jason_b]

LOL I remember a show about that, the cargo cult. They sat and watched the skies after building runways. Not unlike our modern college educated UFO aficionados, except since UFOs land and take off vertically, there is no need for a runway. How conveeeeeeeenient. The more things change the more they stay the same.

The sad thing is that if the cargo cult people got busy and did something to produce wealth rather than waiting for somebody to bring it to them, as they have been all these years, they'd be rich right now.

[Jason_b]

A quarter will be worth .25 times a dollar. The question is what will a FRN dollar be worth in 100 years. My personal rule for such estimations is that provided the system survives, multiply prices (and salaries which is the price of labor) by 10 every 30 years. So in 100 years prices could be approximately 1000 times what they are now. And the paper dollar will be .001 of what it is worth now. Gold would be $400,000 per ounce. That price would seem no more remarkable to posterity than $400 is to us today, and no more remarkable than $35 was to our dads in the '60s. What is remarkable is not the high price of gold as much as the amount by which a paper currency can be depreciated. This is not a "gold is going to the moon" prediction, especially since I won't be around to enjoy it. It is more a "paper money is going down" predicition. If I want to convey money to my grandchildren it will be in the form of gold and it will have about the same purchasing power then that it has now. One ounce has always bought a fine suit.

People will complain about the high cost of living throughout that 100 years but provided there are no shocks in the system, for the most part people will just put up with it and get along fine. The national debt might be 1000 times as large as it is today as well.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Extrapolate the price of gold back a thousand years and it would be worth what? 1/100 of a penny, 1/1000th, 1/1000000th? Such exercises are futile since gold prices go up and down just like any other commodity. As anyone who bought gold in 1980 will sadly confirm.

Unless it is left as some unique gold object there are much better legacies available.

[GSlob]

A fine suit nowadays is going for two ounces. Really nice one for three.

[SunkenCiv]

A Blast from the Past.

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