The worth of coins in his collection may run into crores but 26-year-old Santhosh lives in a thatched house at Neduvila Veedu, Ponganoor, Kilimanoor, Thiruvananthapuram. Perhaps, if he had sold even a portion of his treasure, a mansion could have come up in the place where the thatched structure now stands. But the collection is too dear a thing for Santhosh to even think of selling.

It was while studying in 7th standard that the bug of numismatics bit him. First as a hobby, then as an habit and finally as a passion, the interest has taken him to make many sacrifices to further the collection. For example, he had paid Rs.30000 to acquire a 16th century Russian coin.

In addition to coins from different countries, Santhosh possesses many rare Indian coins also. Some rare coins in his collection include silver coin with Caeser's bust, the supposedly smallest coins brought out by the Vijaya Nagara Empire, the 1st silver coin of Travancore etc.

Friends and the information gathered through them, have helped him to add to his collection. He visits the houses of non-resident Keralites and manages to further enhance his collection.

Though not as vast as his coin collection, Santhosh does posses a fairly large collection of currency notes, antiques and photos from different countries.