The South African (SA) Mint, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank has announced the launch of the penultimate coin in the Big Five series, featuring the leopard.  

The SA Mint has a long tradition of minting coins that pay homage to South Africa’s biodiversity and wildlife that have significance to its international identity and ecological heritage.

In continuing this legacy, the SA Mint launched the bi-annual Big Five coin programme last year, featuring wildlife synonymous with Southern Africa – the elephant, lion, rhinoceros, leopard and buffalo.

Each of the animals is featured on a variety of precious metal coins.

The leopard is the most difficult of the big five to spot in the African bush. Besides being shy, secretive and mainly nocturnal, leopards have distinctive dark spots called rosettes, which create a pattern against their otherwise light fur making them extremely difficult to trace and locate in the savannas.

The coin range consists of a 24 ct 1 oz proof gold coin, a 1 oz proof platinum coin, a brilliant uncirculated fine silver coin and a proof-quality silver double capsule set.

The range also includes two combination sets – the 1 oz Big Five leopard and 1 oz Krugerrand privy marked fine silver proof coin set, and the 1 oz Big Five leopard and 1 oz Krugerrand privy marked gold proof coin set. 

The Big Five leopard coin range’s design gives a detailed depiction of the wild cat. The reverse of the coin features two halves of the face of a leopard and when two coins are placed next to each other, a complete image of the face is seen. When multiple coins are placed next to each other, a leap of leopards is formed. The obverse of the coin features a side view of the leopard, with its characteristic spots indented in the metal.

The face fills up much of the surface area of the coin, and the words ‘South Africa’ and ‘Big 5 2020’ appear below the image, with the national coat of arms in the centre, signifying its legal tender status. 

When it first launched the coin programme in 2019, the SA Mint made a commitment to support conservation efforts directed at protecting the big five.

To this end, a partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) was announced at the beginning of this year. The WCT is an organisation whose task it is to identify viable conservation initiatives and match them with people or organisations who have the capacity or funds to fulfil them.