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| Issuer | Lesotho |
|---|---|
| Year | 1976 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | KINGDOM OF LESOTHO 1966 1976 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF INDEPENDENCE |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Lesotho's 1976 commemorative program marked a decade since the mountain kingdom's independence from Britain in October 1966 — an independence negotiated while the surrounding South African apartheid state had every strategic interest in controlling or destabilizing the enclave entirely. Moshoeshoe II's position throughout this period was genuinely precarious; the king had already been briefly exiled in 1990, though his political struggles with Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan were well underway by the mid-1970s, with Jonathan having suspended the constitution following his 1970 election loss.
The .900 gold specification places this squarely in the Krügerrand-adjacent collector market of the era, when newly independent African states regularly issued low-mintage gold pieces through European minting houses to generate foreign currency.