THE PANT MUSEUM

THE PANT MUSEUM

A Heritage Institution of the AINS Numismatic Sciences Campus

Founded by Ujjwal B U Pant
All India Numismatics Council of Educational Research and Training

"Don't talk about money, talk about history."

ABOUT THE PANT MUSEUM

The Pant Museum is the heritage and collection institution of the AINS Numismatic Sciences Campus, conceived by Ujjwal B U Pant as a permanent home for his personal collection of over two thousand coins and related numismatic and antiquarian material. It is named after the Pant family of Kumaoni Brahmin origin from Almora, Uttarakhand, whose documented lineage spans approximately three hundred years.

The museum is modelled on the great institutional museums of India and the world, combining a world-class numismatic collection with first-hand archaeological field material, family heritage objects and historical documents. It will be the only museum in India dedicated exclusively to numismatic heritage across the complete sweep of Indian history from the Indus Valley Civilisation to the present day.

THE COLLECTION

The core of The Pant Museum will be the personal collection of Ujjwal B U Pant, which currently exceeds two thousand coins spanning every major period of Indian numismatic history. The collection includes Harappan proto-monetary objects and trade weight specimens collected personally from Mound RGR-3 at Rakhigarhi during the 2026 AINCERT field expedition. It includes silver punch-marked karshapanas from approximately 300 BC, Indo-Greek bilingual coins, Vakataka dynasty coins, Kadamba dynasty coins, Pala dynasty coins and Lodi Sultanate coins. Among the most significant pieces is a Chandragupta II Archer Type Gold Dinar of the Gupta Empire, the coin after which AINCERT's ARCHIER Scale is named.

The collection also includes a 1926 British India Quarter Anna graded NGC MS-67 RD, one of the finest known examples of British Indian coinage in existence. It includes an 1835 East India Company William IV error coin in uncirculated condition, acquired from Marudhar Arts, which at 189 years old is among the oldest authenticated pieces in the collection. A sealed 2025 Rajendra Chola I silver proof coin struck at the Bombay Mint in 99.9 percent pure silver at 40 grams with a face value of Rs. 1000 represents the modern end of the collection's chronological range.

Beyond coins, the collection includes over one hundred uncirculated banknotes from over one hundred countries held in two albums, a stamps collection and a growing archive of antiquarian objects.

THE PANT FAMILY HERITAGE

The Pant Museum will also serve as the permanent home of the Pant family heritage archive. The Pant family are Kumaoni Brahmins with roots in Almora, Uttarakhand. The Gwalior branch was founded by Shri Bhola Nath Pant approximately between 1899 and 1902. The family maintains a documented genealogical record spanning approximately three hundred years, one of the most complete family lineage records in the region.

The museum archive includes the complete academic certificate collection of Shri Umesh Chandra Pant, born 1947, who lives with the family. It includes a BJP Samman Patra, DIET floppy disks and a 1968 newspaper, all preserved as historical documents. A 24-karat gold Parker pen and an 1899 to 1902 silver pot from Gwalior are among the most significant heirloom objects earmarked for the museum.

THE RAKHIGARHI SPECIMENS

A dedicated section of The Pant Museum will display the five stone and terracotta specimens collected from Mound RGR-3 at Rakhigarhi during the 2026 AINCERT field expedition. These specimens, cleaned, individually bagged and labelled, represent some of the earliest physical evidence of the proto-monetary exchange system that preceded India's first coined currency by over a thousand years. Also documented in the museum archive is the gold etched quartz bead, weighing approximately 0.15 grams and recovered from approximately 10 feet below the surface during the same expedition, which was witnessed by Ujjwal B U Pant and reported to the ASI team on site.

THE AINS CAMPUS

The Pant Museum will occupy its own dedicated building on the AINS Numismatic Sciences Campus, planned as a G plus 3 structure housing public exhibition galleries, a conservation vault, a research reading room and a dedicated Rakhigarhi field documentation gallery. The campus places The Pant Museum alongside the AINS Research Institute, AINCERT Education Centre and the National Coin Conservation Authority, creating Asia's first integrated numismatic sciences campus.And the first degree of numismatics in asia.

VISION

The Pant Museum will be a place where school children come to see a genuine Harappan trade weight and understand that money did not begin with the rupee. Where researchers come to study a Chandragupta II gold dinar and understand the artistic achievement of the Gupta golden age. Where families come to understand that every coin in their pocket is a chapter of Indian history waiting to be read.

It begins with one collector, one collection and one field visit to Rakhigarhi. It ends with a museum that tells the complete story of India through its coins.

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"Don't talk about money, talk about history."