1000 Shillings Lion

Uganda's 1996 coinage program included a series of pad-printed bimetallic-effect pieces — a cost-reduction technique in which color or metallic appearance is applied to a standard copper-nickel blank rather than engineering a true bimetallic construction. The Bank of Uganda was navigating severe fiscal constraints through the mid-1990s following decades of economic damage under Amin and Obote, and the pad-printing approach allowed denominations to carry visual complexity without the manufacturing expense.

KM#45 is part of a broader wildlife series issued largely for the collector market rather than general circulation.