Third Coinage of the Republic of South Africa

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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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The reverse of the 5 rand coin.

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Incidentally, the 1 rand coin issued in 1990 was a commemorative.

It celebrated the first anniversary of President Botha leaving office.

The first regular version of the new coin, depicting a springbok, was issued in 1991.

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Here is another image of the beautiful springbok design.

It catches the animal in action against its natural setting.

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A similar image of the greater kudu design.

 

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And another of my favourites, the wildebeest. Look at that animal kick!

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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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Arum lily.

Let's look more closely at the plants.

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King protea.

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A strelitzia (Strelitzia reginae).

The strelitzia is sometimes called the crane flower in South Africa. Sir 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.

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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. 

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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.

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

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.

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

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See also:

1] Paul Kruger and the coinage of the South African Republic.

2] Coinage of the Union of South Africa.

3] First Coinage of the Republic of South Africa.

4] Second Coinage of the Republic of South Africa.

5] Numismatic changes in the new South Africa.

6] South Africa: design continuity.

7] South Africa: springbok design sketches by Coert Steynberg.

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Another image of the set. The 5 rand coin is the largest, having a diameter of 26 mm.