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RSA (Pre-1994):Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd Memorial / Protea Flower

RSA (Pre-1994):Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd  Memorial / Protea FlowerRSA (Pre-1994):Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd  Memorial / Protea Flower
RSA (Pre-1994):Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd  Memorial / Protea FlowerRSA (Pre-1994):Prime Minister Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd  Memorial / Protea Flower
Form: Circular. Cast.
By: ?
Date: 1966 (?)
Ref:  Laidlaw: 1156;
Variations:
SizeMetalMassValue
32 mmGold (22ct)45 gm$2,400
20 mm (?)Gold (22ct)12 gm$630
31.9 mmSilver (unmarked)38.7 gm$30

Edge: Plain.

Obverse: Barehead of Verwoerd, right. Legend above: "HENDRIK FRENSCH VERWOERD" and below between stops: "1901-1966".

Reverse: Protea flower. Legend above: "REPUBLIEK VAN SUID-AFRIKA" and below between stops: "1961".

Gold medals stamped: "22CT" and the issue b]number: "101".

Notes: Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (1901 – 1966) was a Dutch-born South African political leader and Prime Minister of the country between 1958 and 1966. Under his premiership South Africa left the British Commonwealth in 1961 and became a republic. He was a far-right Afrikaner nationalist, widely regarded as the author of apartheid. He was assassinated in 1966 for reasons that were non-political.

The gold medals come as a pair inside an oblong, fitted, blue case lined om the inside with while silk-like and and blue velvet-like material.

The medals were probably privately commissioned in 1966 as a memorial. The reverse of the medal commemorates the formation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961. The design is taken form the first coinage of the new republic in which the small silver Tickey (2.5 Cents) and 5 Cents had a Protea flower on the reverse.

The depiction of Verwoerd on the silver medal differs from that on the gold medal. It is possible that the silver medal was a rejected trial casting. If that is so the metal used was probably not silver.