1 Lilangeni - Mswati III 1st portrait, magnetic

The magnetic variant of this issue reflects a broader shift in African minting economics during the early 1990s, when rising nickel prices pushed several smaller kingdoms toward steel-core planchets sourced from overseas suppliers — often the Royal Mint or the South African Mint — rather than solid alloy blanks. Swaziland had limited leverage over its own coinage supply chain, and the planchet composition change was driven by cost rather than any deliberate policy.

KM#44.2 distinguishes the magnetic planchet from the non-magnetic 44.1, a split that catalog editors only formalized after the two types were confirmed circulating concurrently.