The coinage of modern Sierra Leone

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500 leones banknote.

The designs on the 500 leones coin were taken from the 500 leones banknote.

See: Designs that were used on coins and banknotes from the same issuer .

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REDENOMINATION, 2022.

In 2022 the Leone currency was redenominated.

1 new leone was equal to 1000 old leones.


The new currency is officially known as the Second Leone.

100 cents are equal to 1 leone.

The new coins are in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents.

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1 cent coin of 2022.

The 1 cent coin is made of nickel-plated steel.

It weighs 2.8 grams and has a diameter of 20 mm.


The obverse design features singer Sullay Abu Bakarr.

The reverse design features a microphone.

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Sullay Abu Bakarr.

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5 cents coin of 2022.

The 5 cents coin is made of nickel-plated steel.

It weighs 5 grams and has a diameter of 22.5 mm.

The coin is scalloped, with 12 notches.


The obverse design features Israel Olorunfeh Cole.

The reverse design features a djembe.

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Israel Olorunfeh Cole.

His nickname is Dr. Oloh.

He plays the djembe.

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A djembe.

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10 cents coin of 2022.

The 10 cents coin is made of nickel-plated steel.

It weighs 6 grams and has a diameter of 23 mm.

The coin is octagonal (8-sided).


The obverse design features Sooliman Ernest Rogers.

The reverse design features a guitar.

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Sooliman Ernest Rogers.   He is a guitarist.

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25 cents coin of 2022.

The 25 cents coin is bimetallic.

It has a brass-plated steel centre within a nickel-plated steel ring


The coin is decagonal (10-sided).

It weighs 5.5 grams and has a diameter of 24 mm.


The obverse design features Bassie Sorie Kondi.

The reverse design features a kalimba.


The African thumb piano or kalimba is an unusual percussion instrument.

It consists of a number of thin metal blades (keys) mounted on a soundbox or soundboard.

The keys are mounted with different free lengths to produce different notes.

They are typically struck at the end by the performer's thumbs while the soundbox is held by the fingers.

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Bassie Sorie Kondi.  He plays the kalimba.

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50 cents coin of 2022.

The 50 cents coin is bimetallic.

It has a nickel-plated steel centre within a brass-plated steel ring


The coin is dodecagonal (12-sided).

It weighs 7 grams and has a diameter of 26 mm.


The obverse design features Salia Koroma.

The reverse design features an accordion.

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Salia Koroma.  He plays the accordion.

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Coin series of 2022.

This is a well-designed set in all respects.

It includes coins of different shapes and colours.

This makes the coins easy to distinguish.


The smallest and largest diameters are 20 mm and 26 mm.

The set is therefore light and compact.


The only round coin is the 1 cent coin.

The 5 cents coin is the only scalloped coin.

However, scalloped coins are less frequently seen nowadays.


The set does not include a 1 leone coin.

The highest denomination is the 50 cents coin.


The 25 and 50 cents coins are both bimetallic.

It is unusual to see a fractional bimetallic.

'Fractional' means that its face value is in subunits rather than units.

Cents are subunits of the leone.


So far as I know, the coins were produced by the Royal Dutch Mint.


The set features national musicians and their instruments.

This theme is unique among world circulation sets

I do not know the names of the designers of this set.

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