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20 Rand Mandela Birth Centenary
| Issuer | South African Reserve Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 2018 |
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| Currency | Rand (1961-date) |
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| Obverse description | Intaglio portrait of Nelson Mandela at centre-right, set against a warm ochre and orange guilloche underprint with geometric Ndebele-patterned borders at right. The South African coat of arms appears at upper left alongside the Governor's signature, with large numeral '20' in colour-shifting ink at lower left. A vertical inscription 'Mandela Centenary 1918–2018' runs along the right margin, with San rock art motifs scattered across the lower field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A youthful intaglio portrait of Nelson Mandela in traditional Xhosa attire at left, overlaid with the latent-image word 'Madiba', beside a vignette of the historic Soweto brick house at centre. The denomination numeral '20' appears in large format at lower centre against a multicoloured guilloche ground, with San rock art figures along the right border and a vertical 'Mandela Centenary 1918–2018' inscription at far right. |
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| Comments |
The 2018 commemorative issue marking Nelson Mandela's centenary was an unusual production decision for the South African Reserve Bank — a circulating legal tender note built around a commemorative premise, rather than a separate collector issue. The shift to a hybrid polymer-paper substrate for this series reflected lessons drawn from damage and counterfeiting patterns in the preceding Mandela 90th birthday issues, and the South African Bank Note Company handled the full run domestically.
12.175 million printed is a modest figure for a circulating denomination, and hoarding by the public on release day was immediate and predictable.