Seventeen silver coated coins, mostly of one rupee denomination from British era, were unearthed by workers while demolishing side walls of a dilapidated house near Nemili town in Ranipet in the early hours of Wednesday.
Revenue officials said that R. Srinivasan, 48, was residing in the house, which was built in 1974, after inheriting it from his mother many years ago. As the house was in bad condition, he decided to re-build it.
Workers were roped to demolish the structure. As they were demolishing the side walls of the house, a few workers found coins scattered on the floor of the building. Immediately, they alerted Mr. Srinivasan, revenue officials and Kaveripakkam police. “We rushed to the house and took possession of the coins, which will be handed over to the district treasury,” said S. Balachandar, tahsildar, Nemili taluk.
Initial inquiry revealed that most of the coins had the image of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom on one side and denomination of the coin on the other side. Each coin has different images of the queen. One coin has the year 1878 along with the denomination on one side with the picture of the queen on the other side.
Revenue officials said that the Ranipet Collector S. Valarmathi will decide whether to display the coins at the district museum, which is maintained by the State Archeology Department in Arcot.
