Uganda 1969 50 shillings
This specimen was lot 72666 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, June 2022), where it did not sell. The catalog description[1] noted, "UGANDA. 50 Shillings, 1969. NGC PROOF-69 Ultra Cameo. Struck to commemorate the visit of Pope Paul VI." Wikipedia comments, "On 3 June 1886, 32 young men, pages of the court of King Mwanga II of Buganda, were burned to death at Namugongo for their refusal to renounce Christianity. They were Anglican and Catholic. Annually on 3 June, Christians from Uganda and other parts of the world congregate at Namugongo to commemorate the lives and religious beliefs of the Uganda Martyrs. Crowds have been estimated in hundreds of thousands in some years. In June 2015, an estimated 2 million people attended the event." To honor the papal visit, coins were issued in ten, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, fifty and one hundred, five hundred and one thousand shillings, all NCLT's. Soon after, Uganda descended into the nightmare of Idi Amin's misrule.
Recorded mintage: 4,390 proofs.
Specification: 6.91 g, 0.900 fine gold, 0.1999 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-4; KM 14.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The June 2022 World Collectors Choice Online Auction - Ancients & World Coins - Featuring Selections from the Kings Norton Mint Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
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