The South African One Cent coin (abbreviated as 1c) was the second smallest circulating coin of the Rand currency, which was introduced in the then Union of South Africa on 14 February 1961, shortly before the establishment of the Republic on 31 May 1961. The one cent approximately replaced the earlier penny coin, which was the most popular denomination of the South African Pound.
The first type of One Cent coins was made of brass; it was replaced by this smaller bronze type in 1965. The first kind of bronze coins had a portrait of Jan van Riebeeck on the obverse and a legend in one language only; each year, two versions of the coin were issued - one in English and one in Afrikaans; this was also the case with the commemorative issue in 1968. In 1970, the obverse was changed to the Coat of Arms of South Africa with a bilingual legend.
This format of the one cent coin denomination was issued until 1989; after that, an even smaller copper-plated steel version was introduced in 1990 and issued until 2001, after which time the denomination was discontinued.
1c coins issued in 1976 circulated for 14 years until they were replaced with the smaller version.
The 1976 issue commemorates the end of the presidency of Jacobus Johannes Fouché (1898 - 1980) who served as the second State President of South Africa from 1968 to 1975. |