Lesotho's coinage was interrupted entirely during the military rule of the early 1990s, and the return to constitutional monarchy under Letsie III in 1996 — after a politically turbulent sequence involving his father Moshoeshoe II's forced abdication, Letsie's own brief reign, and Moshoeshoe's restoration before his death — meant the Central Bank was effectively rebuilding a national currency identity from scratch. This series was among the first issued under Letsie's permanent reign.
The brass-plated steel composition replaced earlier bronze pieces, a cost-driven shift common across southern African small denominations in the late 1990s.
Lesotho's coinage was interrupted entirely during the military rule of the early 1990s, and the return to constitutional monarchy under Letsie III in 1996 — after a politically turbulent sequence involving his father Moshoeshoe II's forced abdication, Letsie's own brief reign, and Moshoeshoe's restoration before his death — meant the Central Bank was effectively rebuilding a national currency identity from scratch. This series was among the first issued under Letsie's permanent reign.
The brass-plated steel composition replaced earlier bronze pieces, a cost-driven shift common across southern African small denominations in the late 1990s.