Ludhiana, July 6 -- For most people, coins are merely currency but for 39-year-old Baljit Singh, they are windows into the past. To mark the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on June 29, the Gill Road resident opened part of his rare coin collection to the public at his home, offering history enthusiasts a glimpse into more than 2,600 years of Punjab's political and cultural legacy.

Baljit, an engineer by profession, has built a collection of over 4,000 coins, spanning from the earliest tribal republics of ancient Punjab to the last coins issued under the Sikh Empire. The collection chronicles the succession of kingdoms, empires and dynasties that shaped the region over nearly three millennia.

His interest in numismatics began ...