A commemorative value on a commemorative coin

Reverse

The reverse of the coin features President Mwai Kibaki facing forward. Around the edge is the text “Third president of the Republic of Kenya H.E. Mwai Kibaki, CGH, MP.” Unlike the United States, Kenya is happy to have a living person on their coins.

Kenya was colonised by Britain as “East Africa“. After insurrection and bloody war against the colonial power in the 1950s, Kenya achieved independence on December 12 1963. To 2024, Kenya has had five presidents. It has struggled with corruption and ethnic violence. Kenya continues to work with the United Nations on sustainable development goals. 2023 saw a bumper harvest in Kenya, the cost of living is coming down and Kenyans are resilient and optimistic.

Obverse

The obverse of the coin contains the coat of arms of Kenya, with the value 40 Shillings below, and the text “Commemorative 40 years of independence 1963 – 2003” around the edge.

Kenya’s coat of arms features two gold lions, one on either side of a shield with two crossed spears. The lions symbolize Kenya’s wildlife and the courage of the people of Kenya to defend their country. The shield and the spears symbolize unity and defence for freedom. On the shield, the rooster holding an axe portrays authority, the will to work, success, and the break of a new dawn.

It’s that value that sticks out for me on this coin. While it wasn’t so long ago that I shared the Brazil 40 Réis coin, that coin was from nearly 200 years ago – 1835. It is not a common denomination these days. In the past hundred years (1924 – 2024), there have been only five circulating coins with a face value of 40\. In the 100 years before that (1823 – 1923), there were 66, and in the 100 years before that (1722 – 1822), there were 131.

Since independence, Kenya have used the Shilling, which is divided into 100 Cents. In 2003 when this coin was issued, the values in circulation were 10 and 50 cents, 1, 5, 10 and 20 Shillings. Banknotes were 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 Shillings. For the 20th or 50th anniversary of Independence, there were options in both coins and cents of those denominations already. 40 Shillings isn’t an obvious denomination to have in this lineup normally, but as a commemorative coin, it wouldn’t have been too complex to include. Although you probably couldn’t use it in automated machines like this milk vending machine in Nairobi.

I haven’t noticed too many examples of using non-standard, commemorative denomination on a circulating coin. Although in looking at those 5 coins with a denomination of 40 in the last century, the newest is a 40 Rupees from Pakistan commemorating 40 years of Afghan refugees. Pakistan normally have 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 Rupees. In the past decade there have been unique denominations issued of 25, 40, 70 and 75 Rupees for those year anniversaries of various events. Have you encountered a non-standard denomination commemorative coin? Or, what is your favourite non-standard commemorative denomination?