Five Rand 2011 Anniversary of SARB, Coin from South Africa - detailed information

The obverse of the coin shows at its centre the Coat of Arms of South Africa, as adopted on Freedom Day 27 April 2000.

The Coat of Arms is a series of elements organised in distinct symmetric egg-like or oval shapes placed on top of one another. The completed structure combines the lower and higher oval shape in a symbol of infinity. The path that connects the lower edge of the scroll, through the lines of the tusks, with the horizon above and the sun rising at the top, forms the shape of the cosmic egg from which the secretary bird rises. In the symbolic sense, this is the implied rebirth of the spirit of the great and heroic nation of South Africa.

The motto in the semicircle around below, ǃKE E꞉ ǀXARRA ǁKE, is written in the Khoisan language of the ǀXam people and translates literally to "diverse people unite".

Below the Coat of Arms, the initials of the engraver: ALS (for Arthur Sutherland).

Around above, the date of issue: · 2011 ·. Around left and around right, the name of the country in two of the eleven official languages of South Africa.

The inscriptions this year are in Zulu: iNingizimu Afrika, and in Ndebele: iSewula Afrika.

At its centre, the reverse of the coin shows old South African coin and banknote designs: a £100 banknote and (counter-clockwise from top): an Imperial gold sovereign (struck, among other places, also in Pretoria while the South African Mint was still a branch of the Royal Mint), the Nelson Mandela 90th birthday circulating commemorative R5, a R100 coin of the Natura series depicting the endangered Black Rhinoceros, a 20 cent coin and a pre-decimal quarter penny depicting two sparrows (a design later re-created on the last one cent coin type before the denomination was discontinued).

Below the banknote, the initials of the die-sinker (engraver) MJS, for Marthinus J Scheepers; the designer was Natanya van Niekerk.

Above, the inscription 90 YEARS, below which the anniversary dates 1921 - 2011. Above right in the central circle is the numeral of the value: 5; around below, the denomination RAND.

Repeated multiple times around the outer rim in microtext, the abbreviation SARB, for South African Reserve Bank.

There is also a silver one-ounce coin with R5 face value with the same reverse design.