1/10 Protea South African Constitution

The 1996 Constitution coin was issued to mark the adoption of South Africa's final post-apartheid constitution, which came into force on 4 February 1997 after being certified by the Constitutional Court. The drafting process was extraordinary — a two-year negotiated framework involving public submissions from ordinary citizens, producing one of the most detailed rights-based constitutions ever written at that point.

The Protea bullion series had been running since 1986, but the commemorative issues within it were explicitly tied to political milestones of the transition period. Mintages for this type were modest and largely absorbed by collectors rather than the secondary gold market.