10 Emalangeni - Sobhuza II 75th Anniversary of the King

Struck to mark Sobhuza II's 75th birthday, this issue commemorates a monarch who would go on to hold the longest verified reign of any sovereign in recorded history — 82 years and 254 days, having ascended to the Swazi throne in 1899 at roughly four months old. By 1974 he had already outlasted the British protectorate under which he was born, having negotiated independence in 1968 without a shot fired. The gold issue was produced in limited quantities for a country with neither a refinery nor a domestic gold market, almost certainly struck under contract at a European facility.