KNYSNA NEWS - The turaco, better known as the loerie, will be the newest subject to grace South Africa's 50-cent coin.
It is replacing the strelitzia flower - the bird of paradise - in the South African Reserve Bank's fourth decimal series of circulation coins that will become legal tender as of 1 January 2023.
This addition to the circulation coins was part of a host of changes to the entire series announced in a gazette by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) on 25 November.
These include the removal of long-standing fauna and flora on the coins as well as complete design overhauls of all the coins.
New additions and designs
The famous two-tone R5 coin is ditching the iconic wildebeest as its featured animal and replacing it with the southern right whale, but keeping its signature two-tone look - albeit in a different design.
On the R2 coin the kudu makes way for the springbok with changes to its borders to more closely resemble a diamond. After the springbok's promotion to the R2, the protea will now feature on the R1 within a new pentagonal (five-sided) border.
As for the cents, the loerie of course takes over from the strelitzia on the 50c and adopts a hexagonal (six-sided) border, cutting down from the traditional nonagonal (nine-sided) border design.
With the protea elevated to the R1, the aloe will fill the space on the 20c coin which will have a heptagonal (seven-sided) border.
Lastly, our smallest coin in both value and size - the 10c - will drop the arum lily for the honeybee, also getting rid of its nonagonal border to welcome a new octagonal (eight-sided) border.
Another neat change to the coins will see the addition of the words "South Africa" to the obverse side of the coins, printed in all 11 official languages on a rotational basis.
Over the next 10 years, the languages will be alternated annually and each coin will feature the words in a specific number of different languages. The R5 will feature three languages at any given time; the R2, 50c, 20c and 10c coins will have two languages; and on the R1 only one language will be used.
The new 50c coin that will incorporate the loerie. Photo: South African Reserve Bank
Historical changes
The loerie will be the first animal since the springbok in 1964 to feature on the 50-cent coin, bringing to an end 58 years of flowers on the coin. The springbok 50-cent coin was part of the first decimal coin series that was minted by the SARB between 1961 and 1964, after the establishment of the Republic of South Africa in 1961.
But, when the second decimal coin series began minting in 1965, the springbok was dropped in favour of a combination of the strelitzia, the arum lily and the blue agapanthus flowers on the 50-cent coin.
Finally, in the third decimal coin series that began minting in 1989, the strelitzia has been the sole flower on the 50-cent coin. Now the South African circulation coins are set to undergo their biggest overhaul in 34 years, beginning in the new year.
The new coins that become legal tender in 2023 will herald in the age of the fourth decimal coin series for the SARB, and it is the first time since 1989 that they have made changes to an entire coin circulation series.
The R2 coin is the only coin in the third decimal series that has remained unchanged since the series was released in 1989.
The 10-cent saw a design change in 1990; the 20-cent in 1992; the 50-cent and the R1 in 1991; and of course, who can forget the famous change to a two-toned R5 coin in 2004?
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