Owner Comments:
Joint Finest Known and difficult coin in high grades! (1/2)
Total Graded: 30
Mintage: 5,497
This commemorative One Rand silver coin marks the 300th anniversary of the settlement of the Huguenots in South Africa.
The Huguenots were French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. Their rebellions in the 1620s resulted in the abolition of their political and military privileges. They retained the religious provisions of the Edict of Nantes, which granted them substantial religious, political and military autonomy, until the rule of King Louis XIV who gradually increased persecution of Protestantism until he issued the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685). This ended legal recognition of Protestantism in France and the Huguenots were forced to either convert to Catholicism or flee as refugees. Louis XIV claimed that the French Huguenot population was reduced from about 900,000 or 800,000 adherents to just 1,000 or 1,500.
The first organised group of Huguenots set sail from the Netherlands to the Dutch East India Company post at the Cape of Good Hope. The largest portion of the Huguenots to settle in the Cape arrived between 1688 and 1689 in seven ships as part of the organised migration, but quite a few arrived as late as 1700. They later integrated with the Dutch communities; their legacy now lives mostly in place names and family names. The wine industry in South Africa owes a significant debt to the Huguenots, some of whom had vineyards in France, or were brandy distillers, and used their skills in their new home.
Obverse
The obverse of the coin displays the Coat of Arms of South Africa at its centre, as granted to the Union of South Africa by King George V and later amended by the British College of Arms. It contains representation of the four provinces within the Union.
The Coat of Arms features a shield quartered, each quarter a symbol of one of the four provinces of South Africa. An ox wagon represents Transvaal Province, a woman with an anchor represents Cape Province, two wildebeests represent Natal Province and an orange tree represents the Orange Free State Province. The crest of the arms features a lion holding four bound sticks. The supporters are a springbok and a gemsbok. Below the arms, the Latin motto, EX UNITATE VIRES (translated at first as "Union Is Strength", but from 1961 translated as "Unity Is Strength").
Around left, the name of the country in Afrikaans: SUID-AFRIKA; around right, the name in English: SOUTH AFRICA.
Below, the date of issue: * 1988 *.
Below the Coat of Arms on the left side, in small letters the initials of the designer ALS (for Arthur Sutherland).
Reverse
The central part of the reverse features a representation of the Huguenot Monument in Franschoek in Western Cape province, South Africa. Separated by the monument, the anniversary dates 1688 and 1988.
Below the monument, the designer's initials TB (for Timothy Bell).
Around above, the inscription in French: LES HUGUENOTS.
Around below, EEN RAND ONE (the value and denomination, Een Rand in Afrikaans and, mirror-like, One Rand in English).