Bidar, KARNATAKA :

Liaquat Ali Khan’s house in Bidar is an informal museum

Bidar:

What would be the value of a Koran that has words written in liquid gold? Amateur antique collector Liaquat Ali Khan of Bidar has such a rare piece.

This is one of his prize possessions. He has many such invaluable things in his collection. His house is an informal museum of artefacts, coins, stamps, documents, rare cutlery, currency notes, paintings, books, matchbox covers, leaflets about stamp and coin collection, pens, historical tools, knives and many other things.

Mr. Khan’s early life was hard. He could not complete his studies and took up odd jobs. He started a petty shop and ran it for nearly 25 years. He had to close it down owing to some problems. He now lives with his son in a small rented house in Bidar. He keeps the valuables in trunks under the cot and spreads the collection on the bed whenever there are visitors.

“These antique pieces are my only asset. I have spent all my resources to collect them,” he says.

“Whenever I used to hear that somebody had a rare collectible, I would go and look at it. I would buy it if I liked it. I would request the owner to give it to me and bid for it,” Mr. Khan says.

His obsession with collecting rare things was such that his family grew weary of it.

“They would despise my hobby. My wife would complain that I gave more thought to collecting coins than bringing up my children,” he says.

His collection includes a “miracle coin” from the British mint. It is concealed in a cover that looks exactly like the coin inside. One can find out that there is a coin inside only by dropping it on the floor.

There is also a set of gold coins brought out by the Vijayanagara king Sri Krishnadevaraya.

He has a copy of a letter written in Urdu by Mahatma Gandhi to one of his friends.

Mr. Khan also has government orders signed by the Nizam of Hyderabad.

He has rare stamps such as the 3D stamp of Germany and a scented one of Saudi Arabia. Mr. Khan has currency notes of nearly 100 countries.

His son is helping him in preserving the collection.

Mr. Khan has requested the Government to provide him a room to set up a permanent museum. “I have repeatedly made this request. But it has not been considered,” he says.

“Many VIPs have seen my collection. All of them have appreciated it and promised help. But none of them have kept their promise,” he says.

source:  http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Rishikesh Bahadur Desai / June 22nd, 2007