Gold and embossed: Visakha gets coins for turning 100
A commemorative Rs. 2000 gold embossed, sterling silver frosted proof coin was issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to mark the centenary of VisakhaVidyalaya.
The coin was presented to President Maithripala Sirisena by the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy on January 23 at the VisakhaVidyalaya centenary celebrations.
It is being sold to the public at Rs. 12,200 each from the OGA Treasurer’s office, open on schooldays from 8 a.m to 1 p.m. A thousand coins were minted and only about 300 remain for sale.
The coin has a portrait of Selestina Jeremias Dias on the obverse and the Visakha Vidyalaya logo, the traditional oil lamp selectively gold plated on reverse. The Pali words of the school motto in English text PaññayaParisujjhati translates to “By Wisdom is one cleansed”, is taken from the Alavaka Sutta of the Tripitaka.
Mrs. Jeremias Dias, a wealthy lady from Panadura who had studied only up to the fifth standard at a small Sinhala medium village school, realized the importance of educating girls. When one of her beloved sons died, she founded the “Buddhist Girls College” on January 16, 1917 in his memory, in a house called “The Firs” at Turret Road, Kollupitiya. As the numbers increased, Mrs. Dias purchased three acres of land at Vajira Road, Bambalapitiya, on which were erected the two original school buildings consisting of class rooms and a hostel. The school was moved to its present premises and renamed VisakhaVidyalaya on November 21,1927.
Commemorative coins are issued only for national events. The exception was first made in 2011 for Ananda College’s 125th Anniversary coin following a lot of political influence and now we have a second coin issued for a school. The only reason CBSL is not flooded with requests, is that about Rs.10 Million investment is required without any return, as the coins have to be sold at the fixed price stipulated by the Monetary Board. In the case of this coin, the Visakha OGA took delivery of 900 of the 1000 coins minted, and none is being sold by CBSL. CBSL appears to not want the burden of stocking the coins and selling them. Ananda College coins are still available for sale at the Central Bank Museum in Colombo Fort near the lighthouse clock tower.
When the price of the Visakha centenary coin was first posted on social media last September, there were negative comments about the excessive price, until it was explained they were being sold at cost. However it is a pity a circulation commemorative coin affordable to every school child was not selected. Those coins go out of circulation very rapidly like the 25 Rs. 10 coins issued for the Districts in November 2014, and that does not help maintain sufficient coins in circulation.
Silver commemoratives with selective gold plate were first issued by CBSL in 2006 for equivalent of US$69, in 2011 for US$73 and now in 2017 for US$82 which is not an unreasonable increase in actual cost of production of proof coins. Remember that they are untouched by hand in production. If you take it out of the capsule and add your fingerprints on the surface, the coin loses its numismatic premium and the value drops to bullion of silver or just above the face value of Rs. 2000.
Since many schools are reaching their centenary and beyond, the Post Office in 2014 put a total stop to stamps being issued for schools. So the request for aVisakhaVidyalaya stamp was also declined together with requests from many other schools. President Maithripala Sirisena speaking at this event said that on the request of Visakha, he had spoken with the Post Master General and on the excuse that there was no official Education Ministry circular to this effect, had got the Visakha stamp approved as the last school centenary stamp.It was issued on January 16.
This is the first Sri Lanka commemorative silver coin minted in the Royal Dutch Mint.
The author maintains an educational website on over 2000 years of Lankan coins at http://coins.lakdiva.org