Coinage of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)

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King Sobhuza II, 2 cents, 1974.

Let's review the development of the coinage over the years.


From 1974 to 1983, the coinage showed King Sobhuza II.

No coins were issued with the years 1984 or 1985.


The square 2 cents (above) was not issued after 1982.

It did not appear in any of the later series.

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Reverse designs of the 1974 set.

Here you see the reverses of the first coinage.

The 1 cent and 2 cents coins were bronze.

All the other coins were made of copper-nickel.


The 1 cent coin was 12-sided and the 2 cents coin was square.

The 5, 10 and 20 cents coins were all scalloped.

The 50 cents coin was 12-sided.

The 1 lilangeni coin was round.


The set was highly unusual in that only one coin was round.

The others were either polygonal or scalloped.

The 2 cents coin as a denomination was discontinued after 1982.


See also:  Circulation sets with a majority of non-circular coins

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The young King Mswati III on the 1 cent coin of 1986.


King Sobhuza II died in 1982. The Crown Prince was at that time too young to reign.

Swaziland therefore appointed first Queen Dzeliwe, then Queen Ntfombi, as regent.

The Crown Prince was crowned King Mswati III in 1986.


A new series of coins was issued in 1986.

They carried his portrait on the obverse.

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Detail from the mint set of 1986.

The 1 cent coin of the 1986 set was now round.

The 2 cents coin was gone.

The 1 lilangeni coin now portrayed the Queen Mother.


No more FAO-themed coins were issued after 1981.

FAO stands for Food and Agricultural Organization

The Food and Agricultural Organization is a United Nations body.


The 1 cent coin was now made of copper-plated steel.

A few bronze 1 cent coins, dated 1986, were still minted.


The 1 lilangeni coin was made of nickel-brass instead of copper-nickel.

The set now had two round coins instead of only one.


The 50 cents coin remained by far the largest, at 29.5 mm.

The next largest was the 20 cents coin, at 25.2 mm.


The 5 cents coin was minted in nickel-plated steel in 1992.

The 1 lilangeni coin was minted in nickel-brass plated steel in 1992.


No coins bearing the King's young portrait were issued with a date later than 1993.

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The older king on the 10 cents coin of 1995.

A new series was issued in 1995 and 1996.

It showed a portrait of the more mature king.


The 1 cent to 50 cents coins were unchanged in every other respect.

However, 2 and 5 emalangeni coins were added to the series for the first time.


The reverse of the 2 emalangeni coin featured arum lilies.

This design was adapted from the commemorative 2 emalangeni coin of 1981.


The 5 emalangeni coin featured the coat of arms on the reverse.

The 2 and 5 emalangeni coins were both round and made of brass.

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The coinage types as of early 2010.

The 1 cent coin was not issued after 1995.

The 1 and 2 cents coins had now dropped out.


The 5 cents coin became the lowest denomination of the series.

Above you see how the set looked from 1996 onward.

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The 2011-dated set, featuring the large 20 cents coin.

From 2009 to 2011 a new series was introduced.

It was radically different from the previous series.


The 5, 10 and 20 cents coins were no longer scalloped.

They were round but with a scalloped inner rim.


The 50 cents coin was no longer 12-sided.

Instead, it was round with an polygonal inner rim.

This allowed it to retain its 12-sided look.


The 5 cents and 10 cents coins were in copper-plated steel.

Previously they had been made of copper-nickel.

Their new colour now marked them out as a separate tier from the other coins.

Presumably this was done because they were the lowest denominations of the series.

That had not been the case when the set had included the bronze 1 cent and 2 cents coins.


The 20 and 50 cents coins now formed their own tier.

They were in copper-plated steel now, instead of copper-nickel.


The 1 lilangeni coin was in brass-plated steel instead of brass.


This series did not include 2 and 5 emalangeni coins.

I suspect they would have been added later.

However, it seems that yet another series was in the planning stage.

Perhaps that is why the two high denominations were not included in the 2009 to 2011 series.


In terms of size, the 5 and 10 cents coins were 1 mm smaller in diameter.

The 50 cents coin was now 27.5 mm instead of 29.5 mm.

Yet the 50 cents coin was still the largest coin of the set.


The 20 cents coin was reduced by 1.2 mm in diameter.

The coin was now the same diameter as the 2 emalangeni from the previous series.

The 2 emalangeni was still in circulation.

The new size and similar round shape of the 20 cents coin therefore caused confusion.


In 2013 the 20 cents coin went from 25.2 mm to 19 mm.

This made it 2 mm smaller than the 10 cents coin.

Since the 10 cents coin was now red in colour, that did not matter.

The new 20 cents coin was then no longer mistaken for 2 emalangeni.


In the original 1974 series, only the 1 lilangeni coin was round.

In the 2009 t0 2011 / 2013 series, all the coins were round.


There were also significant weight reductions in the coins.

For instance, the 20 cents coin dropped from 5.6 grams to 3.1 grams.

The 1 lilangeni coin dropped from 9.5 grams to 5 grams.

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The reverse of the 2015-dated set.

The 2015-dated series dropped the 5 cents coin.

The 10 cents coin became the lowest denomination.

It was therefore made 18 mm in diameter instead of 21 mm.


In the previous series the 10 cents coin had been red in colour, along with the old 5 cents coin.

If it had retained its red colour, it would now have been the only coin in its tier.

Instead, it was made of stainless steel, like the new 20 cents coin.


The 50 cents coin was also now made of stainless steel.

The 1 lilangeni and 2 and 5 emalangeni coins were now all made of aluminium-bronze.


The 2 and 5 emalangeni coins were now once again issued as circulating denominations.

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Obverses of the 2018 / 2021 set.

The next set was issued in 2018 and 2021.

The first coins of the set were issued in 2018.

The 2 and 5 emalangeni coins were issued in 2021.


The function of the new series was simple.

It was to display the new country name on the coins.


In every other respect the coins were unchanged.

They had the same physical specifications as in 2015.

Apart from the new country name, the designs were the same as before.

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Swaziland, 20 cents, 1974.

The first Swaziland set of 1974 was designed by English artist and sculptor  Michael Rizzello.

His original designs were retained largely unchanged.

Above, you see that he used outlined numerals for the denominations.




Gambia, 6 pence, 1966.

Interestingly, Michael Rizzello had used this technique before.

He used it on the Gambian coins of 1966 and later.

See:  Coinage of the Gambia.

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Here you see the design of the first 1 lilangeni circulation coin.

It has an outlined numeral.



Here you see the 1 lilangeni circulation coin of 1986.

From that year onwards, the reverse design featured the Queen Mother.

The numeral '1' has been replaced by the literal 'ONE'.



Here you see the 1 lilangeni circulation coin of 1998.

This version was issued from 1995 to 2009.

The numeral is still shown as 'ONE'.

Notice that the legend now starts higher up on the coin.


The next version of the coin was issued in 2011.

However, the reverse design remained unchanged.



The next version of the coin was issued in 2015.

Here we see an outlined numeral once more.

The literal 'ONE' has gone.

This design also appears on the 2018 version of the coin.

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Here you see the first circulating 2 emalangeni coin.

It was a commemorative coin for the King's diamond jubilee.

It was issued in 1981 only.



The reverse of the 2 emalangeni coin of 2008.


This version was the first standard circulating 2 emalangeni coin.

It was issued from 1995 to 2010.


Notice that, as in 1981, the numeral '2' is solid and not outlined.



The next version of the coin was issued in 2015.

It now had an outlined numeral, like all the other denominations.

The 2021 version of the coin has the exact same reverse design.

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The standard circulating 5 emalangeni coin of 1999.

This was the first version of the coin.

It was issued from 1995 to 2003.


The numeral '5' is solid.

It is situated between the numerals showing the year.

That is not an ideal position for the denomination.



The standard circulating 5 emalangeni coin of 2015.


The next version of the coin was not issued until 2015.


The numeral '5' is now outlined.

It is also now shown separately higher up the coin.

The coin design now looks similar to the others.


The 2021 version of the coin has the exact same reverse design.

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FRAUDULENT USE OF 1 LILANGENI COINS

From Wikipedia:

The nickel-brass 1 lilangeni coin dated 1986 and the brass coins dated 1995-2009 had the same dimensions and composition as the British 1 pound coins introduced in 1983. They have thus sometimes been used fraudulently in British vending machines. The value of 1 lilangeni decreased from 36 pence (UK) in 1986 to 5 pence (UK) in 2015, when those 1 lilangeni coins were demonetised.

Those coins were produced by the Royal Mint (UK). It is astonishing that the Mint officials did not realise that the coins could be used fraudulently in the UK.

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Varieties of Swaziland's 12-scallop Coins

Do you enjoy reading about coin varieties?

Our forum member africancoins wrote about Varieties on Swaziland's 12-scallop Coins.

Click on the link above to read about them.