Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
10 Cents SUID-AFRIKA - SOUTH AFRICA
| Issuer | South African Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1990-1995 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 2.0 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The full coat of arms of South Africa occupies the central field, rendered in fine relief with the springbok supporter and attendant heraldic devices. The motto EX UNITATE VIRES, meaning 'Unity is Strength', appears on a ribbon beneath the shield. The bilingual country name SUID-AFRIKA · SOUTH AFRICA is inscribed as the upper legend, while the date of issue is positioned in the lower exergue. The design was engraved by Arthur Sutherland. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A naturalistic depiction of three arum lily blooms (Zantedeschia aethiopica), a flower indigenous to South Africa, fills the central field with elegant botanical detail. The stems and spathe flowers are shown in profile, conveying a refined horticultural style characteristic of South African coinage of this period. The denomination 10c is inscribed to the right of the floral motif in clear, upright numerals. The engraver's initials RCM, for Robert Campbell McFarlane, appear discreetly in the field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The switch to bronze-plated steel for this denomination was driven by the rising cost of solid bronze blanks during the late apartheid period, when international sanctions and currency depreciation made raw material costs increasingly difficult to manage. South Africa had used solid bronze for smaller denominations for decades; the plated steel transition was a quiet admission that the economy was under strain.
The years covered by this type bracket the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990 and the first democratic elections of April 1994 — meaning coins of this type were the small change in pockets during the most compressed political transformation in the country's modern history.