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Celebrating freedom with new R5 coin

Cape Town – Coinage, a popular student drinking game, is going to get a whole lot more interesting with a commemorative R5 coin that came into circulation in July, while all the R5 coins found in your local tills dating back before 2004 will remain in co-circulation.

R5 coin celebrates 20 years of freedom

The coin has the “20 years of freedom” logo depicted on the reverse side instead of the usual image of the wildebeest on the bi-metal R5 coin. The obverse of the coin depicts the South African Coat of Arms, the year of issue – 2014 –  with “South Africa” written in Tshivenda (Afurika Tshipembe) and in IsiNdebele (iSewula Afrika).

The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) explained that the coin is a normal circulation coin and will form part of the R5 coins that are already in circulation throughout the country from July this year.

The South African Mint (SA Mint), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sarb, has also launched a special three-coin Democracy Coin Set, consisting of a 24-carat gold R200 coin depicting former president Nelson Mandela casting his first vote; a sterling silver R2 crown featuring the South African flag; and a commemorative R5 coin celebrating “20 Years of Freedom”. The R5 coin is the only one that will go into circulation, while the set can be purchased from SA Mint.

In response to a Fin24 user query on when the old R5 coin will be taken out of circulation, the Sarb said the new coins introduced in 2004 were never intended to replace the old ones.

The user who calls himself wesmat wrote: "I was wondering when the old R5 coin will be taken out of circulation?  It has been several years since the new one was introduced.  Even the 1c and 2c have been discontinued, but the old R5 coin still remains.”

The Sarb explained that the R5 coin launched in 2004 existed in co-circulation with the old coin. "This situation has not changed, but banks do work with Sarb to manage out any coins or notes that no longer have the correct security properties required."

According to the SA History website, a counterfeit R5 coin was circulating in South Africa between 2003 and 2004. “Although not an exact match of the original, the coin was convincing enough to fool many people”, it said, which "prompted the Reserve Bank to redesign the coin in order to outsmart counterfeiters”.

The R5 coin launched on July 28 2004 carries the image of the Black Wildebeest or Gnu, because "it is found in the northern grassveld regions of the Cape, throughout the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the southern regions of Gauteng", according to SA Mint. The Black Wildebeest was also depicted on the 2c reverse from 1965 to 1990.

It is bi-metal, with a silver coloured border and a bronze coloured centre and is also thicker and heavier than the pre-2004 version.

So get out those R5 coins, match them up with the old, the current and the new, and see who really is the champion of coinage.

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