After almost four decades of a fruitless search for the missing 12kg gold coin, said to be the world's biggest coin to have been minted, India has decided to resume its search for the massive treasure.
The coin was allegedly last owned by Mukarram Jah, the titular eighth Nizam of Hyderabad who inherited it from his grandfather - the last Nizam of Hyderabad - Mir Osman Ali Khan in 1967.
Eminent historian, Professor Salma Ahmed Farooqui of HK Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, in India's Telangana state, told English-language daily newspaper, The Times of India, that a new search is being conducted by the federal government to locate the coin which is the pride of Hyderabad and a priceless relic.
According to reports, Jah is alleged to have tried to auction the coin at a Swiss bank, but the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to locate the coin.
“In 1987, when Indian officials in Europe alerted the central government that auctioneer Habsburg Feldman SA was auctioning the 11,935.8g gold coin in Geneva at Hotel Moga on 9 November through Paris-based Indosuez Bank’s Geneva branch, the CBI rushed to the scene. Investigations started and much information was unearthed,” Professor Farooqui said.
However, after several CBI officials, who were part of the investigation, retired the search was halted, the professor added. She said that she hopes the renewed efforts will be successful this time. Despite the phenomenal rarity value of the coin, the value of the gold itself is approximately $700,000.
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