New collectable coins reflect local ingenuity
CONSIDERED a year of new beginnings and renewals according to the Chinese horoscope, 2020 – the Year of the Metal Rat – will see the SA Mint embrace the sentiment in its entirety as it renews its prized collectable coins and the iconic Krugerrand.
Every year, the SA Mint, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SA Reserve Bank, marks memorable events and anniversaries that capture the nation by striking these on to coins, and 2020’s product line-up is no different.
Expected to get the nation talking is the new R2 circulation coin, a product of a competition in 2019 following the highly visible and successful launch of the SA25 coin series commemorating “25 Years of SA’s Constitutional Democracy”.
The SA Mint invited the public to submit designs for the reverse of the new R2 coin, depicting a right from the Bill of Rights. The winning design was selected and will be in circulation in the course of the year. Numismatists will be able to add another example of local ingenuity to their collection with the launch of the sterling silver crown and tickey coins featuring the Retinal cryoprobe, a local invention that revolutionised cataract surgery.
A South African doctor, pioneering inventor and biomedical engineer, Selig Percy Amoils, is credited for the invention of the cryoprobe, which is a pen-like instrument that is inserted into a cut in the eye to remove a cataract with no risk of destroying healthy adjacent tissue.
This technology was also used on late president Nelson Mandela.
The R2 crown features the anatomy of an eye on the reverse, while the tickey shows a gloved hand holding the retinal cryoprobe when the 2.5c tickey is placed on top of the crown in the designated area, the surgical procedure is recreated.
Introduced last year and also at the 2019 World Money Fair, the Big 5 series will see the launch of two new Big 5 designs in 2020, featuring the rhino and leopard.