Sierra Leone 1984 10 cents
The first specimen was lot 73478 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, June 2020), where it sold for $65. The catalog description[1] noted, "SIERRA LEONE. 10 Cents, 1984. Kings Norton Mint. PCGS SPECIMEN-67 Gold Shield. Offering a slight satiny nature, this impressive specimen radiates with luster and is completely untoned. Tied with just two others for the finest graded in PCGS census. Ex: Kings Norton Mint Collection." This type was also struck in 1978 and 1980. It was accompanied by a five cents. Wikipedia comments, "Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial rule and self-indulgence, consolidating power by means of corruption and exploitation." On the currency, Wikipedia comments, "The leone was introduced on 4 August 1964. It replaced the British West African pound at a rate of 1 pound = 2 leones (i.e., 1 leone = 10 shillings). When it was introduced, one leone was worth precisely half a pound sterling or US$1.40. The leone was worth more than the U.S. dollar until the 1980s, when the currency started to devalue rapidly. Years of high inflation have caused the value of leone to plummet, and a U.S. dollar became worth thousands of leones starting in the 2000s."
Recorded mintage: unknown but common.
Specification: 4.90 g, copper-nickel, 22.9 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM 34.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The June 2020 Collector's Choice sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.
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