Bengaluru: An engineer named Annamalai Rajendran has turned his passion into an achievement, by collecting currencies of different countries, reports Times Now. 

He got into the India Book of Records for collecting banknotes from around 410 countries. The collection is one-of-a-kind as it includes some rare currencies as well that belong to the 16th and 17th centuries. 

The 34-year-old has a penchant for knowing more about countries around the world as well as their customs and traditions. He has kept the hobby going in order to bring about an even balance between his work and personal life.

"I collected most of my banknotes through friends and numismatic auctions," he told ANI.

 

Out of the 410 banknotes collected, 189 belong to the UN Member nations and 27 Island and Overseas Territories. The materials that they are made out of are paper, polymer, cardboard, gold, cloth, etc.

One of them is the world's first gold legal tender from Antigua and Barbuda, the world's first 'glow in the dark' coin, and ancient coins from the Chola Empire in India as well as from the Roman Empire.

Rajendran's collection was exhibited for the officials coming from Asia and India Book of Records as the attempt was made to achieve the feat. The official adjudicator named Vivek R Nair gave him the certificate for bagging the record.

Previously, the record was held by Jayesh Kumar who hailed from Coimbatore.