MTB circulated 1/2c RSA
1963

Owner Comments:

The two sparrows on the South African lower denomination coins has always been present from the Union times (1st Decimal) 1961 to 1964 and both the 2nd and 3rd decimal series. The origin of having the two sparrows came from the Boer war in South Africa. The Boer (farmer) wives had been placed in concentration camps by the British forces and many women and children sucumbed to starvation in these camps. During these hard times the women quoted a passage from the bible and swore an oath that if they made it out alive from the concentration camps they would ensure that the two sparrows be placed on the lower denomination coins to remember the women and children who ahd died in the camps.