Change of fortune for young coin collector’s Dh1 quest
A young numismatist in search of a coin has the elusive dirham in his collection after members of the community came to his assistance.
Nihad Hassan had been searching for the Dh1 coin that was issued in 2015 marking the anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed as Crown Prince of Dubai.
Just two weeks after the Indian pupil’s story was published in The National, a grocery shop worker approached him with the commemorative coin he had been seeking.
“I always see him coming to the shop and when I saw his photo in the newspaper I read the story and found out that he was looking for the same coin that we have,” said Safwan Ikka, 26, at Al Maghwar grocery shop in Abu Dhabi.
“When he came to buy the newspaper I showed him the coin, and he was very happy.”
Nihad, 17, was flooded with emails from people across the country who had seen his story in The National, and were keen to help.
Some offered the coin in exchange for money, while others offered to give it to him without charge.
“I was surprised as I didn’t expect to find it that fast, and when the grocery shop worker showed it to me I was really happy and thanked him a lot,” he said.
His father, Abdulgafoor Hassan, was also surprised to see such encouragement from the community and said he would always support his son.
“I was one of the first people, along with his uncle, who had supported him and helped him in looking for more coins,” said Mr Hassan, 45.
Nihad’s collection now has three new coins, with the others being struck for the 30th Anniversary of the First LNG Shipment from Adgas Plant, and the Sheikha Fatima Programme for Excellence and Social Creativity coin that features the Mother of the Nation Logo.