SA MINT ANNOUNCES COMMEMORATIVE R2 COINS

THE SOUTH African Mint on Friday announced 2020 collectable coins. The mint, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the SA Reserve Bank, said in a statement that every year the mint marked memorable events and anniversaries that captured the nation by striking these stories on to coins. It is introducing a new R2 circulation coin, a product of a competition which ran last year. “The South African Mint invited members of the public to submit designs for the reverse of the new R2 coin, depicting a right from South Africa’s Bill of Rights. The winning design has been selected and will enter circulation during the course of 2020,” it said. The mint said numismatists would see the launch of the sterling silver crown and tickey coins featuring the Retinal cryoprobe, a local invention that revolutionised cataract surgery. “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 has even been used on former President Nelson Mandela,” it said. The R2 crown featured the anatomy of an eye on the reverse, while the tickey showed a gloved hand holding the retinal cryoprobe when the 2.5c tickey was placed on top of the crown in the designated area, the surgical procedure was recreated. I Staff Reporter