| Coin | Silver Ounce 2011 Anniversary of SARB |
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South Africa pioneered modern bullion coinage when it first issued the Krugerrand on 3 July 1967 to help market South African gold; it is the first modern bullion coin and is still issued today.
Gradually, the South African Mint started diversifying the range, first by issuing fractional Krugerrands, then by introducing different designs and metals, such as a silver one-ounce (1 oz) format. These include silver 1 oz Krugerrands, the Protea series, the Natura series, as well as one-year types that do not fall into a particular series. Some are made of Sterling silver (92.5%) alloyed with copper, just like the British pre-decimal Crown coins, and some are 99.9% silver. The Sterling versions are overall heavier though, so they also contain exactly one ounce of pure silver or 1oz Absolute Silver Weight (1.000 oz ASW); they are called "Crowns" in the "Crown and Tickey" coin sets in which some of them are issued, and are officially denominated as two, five or ten Rands.
This commemorative silver ounce coin denominated with R5 face value was issued to mark the 90th anniversary of the South African Reserve Bank, which is the central bank of South Africa and the official issuer of all Rand coinage.
The bank was established in 1921 by the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920" of the South African Parliament; it was only the fourth central bank established outside the United Kingdom and Europe, and the first in Africa. |
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| Obverse | |
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The obverse shows the Coat of Arms of South Africa at centre, dividing the date 2011, with the legend SOUTH AFRICA written around in all the eleven official languages of the country, the inscriptions in a pentagonal pattern with two rows on each side:
Ningizimu Afrika in Zulu,
Aforika Borwa in Tswana,
Afurika Tshipembe in Venda,
Afrika Borwa in Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho,
iSewula Afrika in Southern Ndebele,
South Africa in English,
uMzantsi Afrika in Xhosa,
iNingizimu Afrika in Swazi,
Afrika Dzonga in Tsonga, and
Suid-Afrika in Afrikaans.
The designer's initials ALS (for Arthur L. Sutherland) are to the left of the Coat of Arms.
The central circle is gold-plated, creating the appearance of a bimetallic coin. |
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| Reverse | |
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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.
The central circle is gold-plated, creating the appearance of a bimetallic coin.
Repeated multiple times around the outer rim in microtext, the abbreviation SARB, for South African Reserve Bank. |
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| Reverse Inscription |
90 YEARS 1921 - 2011 5 RAND |
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| Edge | Milled | Edge Inscription | None |
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