2013 - Silver - PROOF - Life of a legend - Mandela - R1 - Protea Series

R1

PROOF

Sterling Silver

MASS                 : 15.00g

Metal-Content   : Ag 925 Cu 75

Limited Edition : 2691/6000

The South African Mint honours "The Life of a Legend: Nelson Mandela" on the Protea coin series. Nelson Mandela's childhood and love for children is portrayed in this seris.

He was born Rolihlahla Mandela on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo, in the Transkei. His father was Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Henry, chief of Mvezo and his mother, Noqaphi Nosekeni, one of the chief's four wives.

The family moved to Qunu where Mandels spent his early childhoon. After the death of his father, he went to live with the regent of the Thembu people,Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, who lived in a compund called "The Great Place" in Mqhekezweni. The arrival of Nelson Mandela and his mother is portrayed on the reverse of thr R1 Protea coin, with the quote "in that moment of beholding Jongintaba and his court I felt like a sapling pulled root and branch from the earth and flung into the center of a stream whose strong current i could not resist"(Autobiography,Long Walk to Freedom)

The obverse depicts Nelson Mandela with South Africa's national flower, the King Protea.