I had a chance to visit the country of Sierra Leone back in 2005. Unfortunately the country had recently finished a brutal civil war a few years earlier but I still enjoyed my time there. The movie Blood Diamonds was set in Sierra Leone and, well a fictitious film, illustrated alot of the violence that occurred because of fighting over valuable diamond mines. The country still has many scars in the form of displaced citizens, extreme poverty, corruption and disease but I hope it can recover soon.
I was very happy to see this coin available and bought it immediately. The coin was released in 1974, with a mintage of 40,000 coins, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bank of Sierra Leone. One side of the coin has the bank logo (a lion guarding a treasure chest) and the other side has a picture of the 1st President of Sierra Leone, Dr. Siaka Stevens. From what I have read Siaka Stevens was a fairly ruthless individual and a borderline dictator, but I like the coin anyways.
One interesting think I read is that when Sierra Leone got independence from England the Leone was valued on par with the British Pound. As of today, one Pound could buy you 6600 Leones! Now that is what I call currency devaluation!
Mintage: 40,000
Mint: Bank of Sierra Leone
Purity: 92.5% Silver
Weight: 28.28 grams (approx. one avoirdupois ounce)
Diameter: 38.61 millimeters
Notes: Came with case and certificate of authenticity
No comments:
Post a Comment