10 Maloti - Moshoeshoe II Independence

Lesotho marked its tenth anniversary of independence in 1976 with a series of commemorative issues, this being among the silver pieces in that program. Independence had come in October 1966 under King Moshoeshoe II, who spent much of his reign in a fractious relationship with the military governments that periodically seized power — he was deposed twice, in 1990 and again in 1995, before his death in disputed circumstances in January 1996.

The .925 silver strikes in this series were produced for collector sale rather than circulation, typical of Lesotho's commemorative output in the 1970s, when the tiny landlocked kingdom used anniversary coinage partly as a foreign currency earner.