Platinum Big Five Elephant from €2,017 per troy ounce

Origin and issuer

The Big Five is issued by The South African Mint Company (RF) (Pty) Ltd. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), under the SARB Act 90 of 1989.

History

The Elephant is the first coin of the series and was launched at the World Money Fair in Berlin in February 2019. When it announced the series in 2019, the mint said a new animal would follow every six months; the lion came in August 2019. The series shows five animals: elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and buffalo.

Design

According to the announcement of 2019, the reverse of the elephant shows two halves of the animal's face: two coins side by side make up the whole face. Since the first Big 5 coins in 2019 there has also been the double capsule, which holds two coins side by side.

In Series II the obverse was revised: it shows only the face of the animal, without the rest of the body. The reverse stayed the same. Series II adds a 1/4 ounce coin to the gold range, and a double capsule of two 1/4 ounce coins. In Series III the coin shows the whole animal in motion, instead of the portrait of the first two series.

For the first series the mint announced a gold combination set: a 1 ounce 24 carat Big 5 coin with a 1 ounce 22 carat Krugerrand, both in proof quality.

Series III in gold

The following figures are for Series III, not for every year in which the coin is in a shop. The 1 ounce gold proof coin has a face value of 50 rand (R50), weighs 31.107 grams, measures 32.69 mm across and is Au 999.9. The mintage is 500.

The 5 ounce coin weighs 155.535 grams, measures 50 mm and is also Au 999.9, with a mintage of 50. The 1 kilogram coin weighs 1000 grams, measures 90 mm, is Au 999.9 and has a mintage of 10.