Originally reported and written in January 2023, this story has been republished as part of our archival content.

As Raja Ramakrishna Chinna Swamy Naidu, a 22-year-old from Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, tilts the intricately designed wooden chest holding his artefact collection, a strange volley of items topples down onto the bed in his home in Vizag.

Looking around, the bedroom could easily pass off for a mini museum, and as Raja explains, this was exactly what he was looking to achieve.

Meanwhile, the bed is now a blur of vintage colour — coins, currency notes, postal stamps, stamp papers and even matchboxes dating back to the Mughal era.

The shelves in the room have their own antique symphony with a range of cameras, projectors, telephones, gramophones, radios, VCR players, typewriters, boxes, and utensils of copper, ivory, and brass that are 200 years old.

Amidst this, there is an item that stands out not just for its strategic display, but also for the story behind it. This, as Raja explains, is a brass compass that belonged to his great-grandfather Late Sri Puvvula Chinna Swamy Naidu. He was a local fund overseer during the British Raj and used the compass during his service.

Raja’s room boasts of some of the rarest items and is a ‘mini museum in itself’. His collection is not just a storehouse of heritage items from his own ancestors but also ones that his friends and strangers have contributed upon discovering Raja’s interest.

A journey of collecting artefacts

It all started when this postgraduate hospitality and tourism management student was nine years old. As he recounts, while spending time with his dad one day, Raja came across a coin collection that dated back to his father’s school days. He was pleasantly surprised to see these artefacts........

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