Palaeontology enthusiast Sathya boasts of priceless possessions

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), Mar 27 (ANI): Coimbatore palaeontology enthusiast Arun Sathya owns a rare collection of fossils.

Forty-five year old Sathya”s mega collection includes rocks, mineral, gems and fossils. His prized and priceless possessions range from 65 to 350 million years.

He has a large collection of 190 million-years-old Amethyst geode and Ammonite, 144 million years old wood fossils as well as Gryphaea and 190 million years old chambered nautilus.

Among the stones, Sathya possesses geodes, ammonites, translucent pebbles and glittering crystals.

This fossil collector says that though he started gathering the fossils for his personal interest, he would like to establish a museum to showcase his precious collection.

“I started for my personal collection just to satisfy my personal interest. I would like to establish a museum that is my dream, I”ll do it” noted Arun Sathya.

He also has an iron nickel meteorite believed to be nearly 4.2 billion years old and reportedly it was found at Texas in 1922. (ANI)

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Rare documents including journal from Charles Darwin’s ship up for grabs

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 29 (ANI): A rare collection of historic travel documents and photos, which includes a journal from the ship made famous by scientist Charles Darwin, are to go under the hammer at an auction in London.

One of the biggest highlights of the auction will be a set of photos dating back to the 1930s, which gives details of the first royal visit to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, undertaken by Princess Alice.

Other items for grabs include highly decorated 17th century globes and a collection of first hand travel accounts and voyages spanning the last 300 years.he Beagle has been one of the most famous ships in maritime history as it was from this vessel that Darwin carried out some of his most important voyages, which eventually formed the background to his groundbreaking ideas on evolution.

Also, the auction will showcase a series of first hand travel accounts from the journal kept by a commanding officer on the ship, which even details the dramatic end of Beagle’s first hydrographic surveying voyage to Patagonia.

The sale will offer some six separate works relating to explorer Captain James Cook, which include a printed account, written by one of his officers, of the captain’s second voyage around the world.The visually stunning and historically important album sheds light on a turning point in Anglo-Saudi relations,” The Telegraph quoted Sotheby’s specialist Richard Fattorini as saying.

He added: “HRH Princess Alice’s trip was the first of its kind to the region and it coincided with the hugely important discovery of commercial quantities of oil in the region.

“In a sale with such exciting highlights as the spectacular pair of globes and the important and rare photographic albums, we are also very privileged to include a selection of first-hand travel accounts in their contemporary bindings – many of them exceptionally fine copies – the condition of which we have not been privileged to offer for sale in many years.”

The Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History Auction will take place at Sotheby’s in central London on May 7. (ANI)

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Rare collection of old coins in West Bengal

January 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Siliguri, Jan 19 (ANI): Neeraj Agarwal is one of the rare collectors of old coins in West Bengal. He has as many as five thousand coins in his collection from across the globe.

Agarwal has 20 coin albums that contain coins of different era and time.

Among them, he claims, are coins of Gandhara Janapada Dynasty of Taxila of 600 B.C. and coins from the Sultanate period in India of the 12 to 14 centuries.

He has coins belonging to the British East India Company and the Mughal Age. He also claims to possess coins belonging to the 10-century A D, which depict history of West Bengal.

“I have a good collection of 20 countries of foreign coins. Apart from that, I have coins of ancient India. Basically, I am concentrating on Coochbehar and British India coins,” he said.

He added that some of the coins have been passed on to him through generations.

“Some coins were available from my family which is carried on since generations. We also get lot of coins from India and abroad. We collectors also exchange coins and sometimes we buy also,” he said.
Agarwal hope that the Numismatologists of North Bengal will set up an organisation, which will showcase the rich history of North Bengal. y Tarak Sarkar (ANI)

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