Very Low Start! MS 66 Nelson Mandela KM-116 Somalia 250Sh NGC Graded. Only 200 were minted.

Madiba coins in Somalia
Originally uploaded by makhezulu.

By Tula Dlamini

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.

Only 200 pieces of this beautiful and unique tri-metal coin were minted for collectors world-wide.