World of Coins

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In the 1980s, the internal black opposition to apartheid in South Africa increased. The country's wars with Angola and Mozambique were also placing a heavy strain on the country. In 1980 white rule in neighbouring Rhodesia was ended when it became Zimbabwe. The USA still reluctantly relied on South Africa as a bulwark against communism in the region, but the West was becoming increasingly intolerant of the apartheid regime.

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union. His policies eventually led to the dismantling of communism in the USSR and also in Eastern Europe and further afield. Things would now also have to change in South Africa, and they did.

From Wikipedia:

Early in 1989, President Botha suffered a stroke, and he reluctantly resigned in February 1989. He was succeeded as president later that year by F.W. de Klerk. Despite his initial reputation as a conservative, de Klerk moved decisively towards negotiations to end the political stalemate in the country. In his opening address to parliament on 2 February 1990, de Klerk announced that he would repeal discriminatory laws and lift the 30-year ban on leading anti-apartheid groups such as the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the United Democratic Front. The Land Act was brought to an end. De Klerk also made his first public commitment to release Nelson Mandela, to return to press freedom and to suspend the death penalty. Media restrictions were lifted and political prisoners not guilty of common law crimes were released. On 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison after more than 27 years of confinement.

Having been instructed by the UN Security Council to end its long-standing involvement in South West Africa / Namibia, South Africa negotiated a change of control, and Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990. Apartheid was dismantled in a series of negotiations from 1990 to 1993, culminating in elections in 1994, the first in South Africa with universal suffrage. Nelson Mandela then became President of South Africa.

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Coincidentally, South Africa released a new coin series during these years of change. A circulation 2 rand coin was issued for the first time in 1989, and the bulk of the new series was issued in 1990. A circulation 5 rand coin was added in 1994 to finish the set. These coins all had new designs, and they were significantly smaller and lighter than the previous series.

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The 5 rand coin was first issued in 1994. It depicted a wildebeest. The wildebeests, also called gnus, are a genus of antelopes, whose scientific name is Connochaetes. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep and other even-toed horned ungulates.

The 5 rand coin was made of nickel-plated copper and was round with a polygonal internal rim. It was 26 mm in diameter and weighed 7 grams.

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All in all, a beautiful set. In 1996 the legends began to be changed to reflect South Africa's many languages.

Eventually the coat of arms was changed too.

The reverse designs were essentially left unchanged, except for minor changes to the numerals.

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The strelitzia is sometimes called the crane flower in South Africa. Sir Joseph Banks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Banks) gave it the scientific name of (Strelitzia reginae), after Queen Charlotte of England, who was also the Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Banks is credited with introducing the eucalyptus, acacia, and the genus named after him, Banksia, to the Western world.

The strelitzia is also sometimes called the bird of paradise flower. It gets its name from the fact that its flower is made of three bright orange petals and three blue petals, which are fused together into a single bud. As the flower blooms, each petal makes its debut, and the resulting shape mirrors that of a tropical bird in flight.

It's interesting to notice the planning going on here.

The wildebeest was removed from the 2 cents coin in 1990 and was replaced by the eagle. We then had a situation where the bottom three denominations all depicted birds: 1c - sparrows; 2c - eagle; 5c - crane. The 10, 20 and 50c once more all featured plants, as in the previous design series. The 1 and 2 rand both depicted horned beasts of the antelope family. And in 1994, the wildebeest (also a member of the antelope family) made a reappearance, this time on the 5 rand coins.

So now all the rand denominations featured a horned beast. Three birds; three plants; three large horned beasts. Clearly some serious planning had been going on. This time, unlike in previous design series, there was no repetition in the designs. However, design themes were repeated from previous series, which gave the set a sense of design continuity. Another excellent set from South Africa.  8)

Notice how the three sets of the Republic became smaller and smaller.

The first set (1961-4) inherited its large coin sizes from the predecimal coins.

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First set: 1961 to 1964.

Value	Weight	Diameter	Thickness
½c	5.70	25.60	1.80
1c	9.58	31.00	2.00
2½c	1.41	16.30	0.96
5c	2.83	19.35	1.40
10c	5.66	23.70	1.80
20c	11.31	28.70	2.39
50c	28.28	38.80	3.04

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Second set: 1965 to 1989.

Value	Weight	Diameter	Thickness
½c	2.0	16.21	1.47
1c	3.0	19.05	1.57
2c	4.0	22.45	1.71
5c	2.5	17.35	1.58
10c	4.0	20.70	1.70
20c	6.0	24.20	1.84
50c	9.5	27.85	2.21
1 R	15.0	32.70	2.25
1 R	12.0	31.00	2.25

NOTE: The 1 rand coin changed from silver to nickel in 1977, becoming smaller and lighter.

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Third set: 1990 to date.

Value	Weight	Diameter	Thickness
1c	1.5	15	1.30
2c	3.0	18	1.80
5c	4.5	21	1.81
10c	2.0	16	1.70
20c	3.5	19	1.80
50c	5.0	22	1.88
1 R	4.0	20	1.80
2 R	5.5	23	1.75
5 R	7.0	26	1.70

See also:

1] Paul Kruger and the coinage of the South African Republic (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,39539.0.html).

2] Coinage of the Union of South Africa (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,39634.0.html).

3] First Coinage of the Republic of South Africa (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,39951.0.html).

4] Second Coinage of the Republic of South Africa (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,39963.0.html).

5] Numismatic changes in the new South Africa (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,40537.0.html).

6] South Africa: design continuity (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,40518.0.html).

7] South Africa: springbok design sketches by Coert Steynberg (http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,47126.0.html).

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