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You are bidding on one of the most controversial numismatic pieces of our time. Only 200 pieces of this beautiful and unique tri-metal coin were minted for collectors world-wide.
With no proper functioning central government, Somalia remains a country in a state of paralysis.
In the last months of 2000, however, a group of Somalis calling themselves the 'citizen's assembly' met in neighboring Djibouti and elected president Abdiqasim Salad Hassan and a new transitional legislature.
Although, the government of both Hassan and the legislature was short-lived, they tried with some success to assert central authority. Somalia issued tri-metal coins with a face value of 250 Shillings depicting South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela as part of the "millenium icon series". This coin is struck in three phases: centre and two rings in brass, alternately plated with silver and gold.
As the year 2007 comes to an end, events in Somalia are a direct contrast to the peace Mandela symbolizes universally. Battles between the various Islamic Courts militia groups and the current transitional government have intensified, leaving hundreds of people killed, thousands displaced from their homes and others wounded — many of them civilians caught in the crossfire of grenades, machine guns and mortars.
In the midst of political impasse in Somalia, the Mandela coin represents the dream of lasting peace - to be pursued until attained.
