2022 Big 5 Lion

The South Africa Mint Just Released the African Lion from Big 5 Series II!

Available in Gold, Platinum and Silver, with a Spectacular Design!

As you know, Africa is home to some of the world’s most powerful and dangerous wild animals. The South African Mint paid tribute to five of the most ferocious members of the group with its first wildlife coin series, Natura, in the 1990s—the Elephant, Lion, Black Rhinoceros, Leopard and Cape Buffalo. The series was a humongous success and had collectors clamoring for more. It took a while, decades actually, but the Mint finally acquiesced and released the Big Five Series I in 2019, with new coin designs honoring Africa’s Big 5 most iconic animals. Once again, collectors could not get enough of these limited-edition coins.

Then in 2021 came the first release in Big 5 Series II, the Elephant, and now in 2022, the Mint has released the second in Series II—the king of beasts, the African Lion.

While most cats are solitary, the African Lion is the only cat with an extended family, a pride, consisting of 15-30 lions, including females with their young, and two to three territorial males. Male lions are known for the thick manes encircling their head and neck, which darken with age. It’s the female lions that do most of the food hunting, while the males protect the cubs and the pride’s territory. When resting—which can be up to 20 hours a day—lions display affection for each other, touching, head rubbing, licking and purring. Both males and females roar—an awe-inspiring sound that can often be heard up to five miles away!

This Design Captures the Majesty of the African Lion

The obverse of these coins depicts the powerful head of a large male lion as he looks proudly across his vast domain. On the lower half of the coin, the legend SOUTH AFRICA is separated from the inscription BIG FIVE 2022 by a small Coat of Arms of South Africa.

The reverse design focuses on the graceful beauty of these regal animals with an ingenious design that showcases a bisected, side-by-side, head-on image of a lion’s face. An eye, whiskers and part of the lion’s nose are prominent in this design, which becomes one complete lion head when two coins are placed next to each other. An entire pride can be formed by placing multiple coins next to each other.

Struck in Gold, Silver and Platinum

These Big 5 Series II Lion Coins are struck with a shimmering proof finish in one ounce of high-purity 99.99% pure gold (50 Rand South Africa legal tender), one ounce of 99.95% of fine platinum (20 Rand South Africa legal tender) or one ounce of 99.9% fine silver (5 Rand South Africa legal tender). Each of these coins is also available as part of a 3-Pc. Set.

Certified Flawless Proof-70 with a First Day of Issue Pedigree by NGC

Proofs and coins are graded on a 70-point scale, with a grade of 70 representing absolute perfection, even under magnification. There is no higher grade. These Proofs have been certified as perfect Proof-70 (PF70) by Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC), one of the top coin-grading services in the world. Not only that, each Proof has been certified by NGC as First Day of Issue (FDI), meaning it was received for grading within 24 hours of the official mint release. First Day of Issue proofs are sought-after because they are fresh and sharp, and because there are so few of them compared to the overall population.

What you have here are not only the best of the best, they’re also the first of the best.

Exclusive Hand-Signed Signature Labels

Each of these perfect, flawless coins comes sonically sealed with an exclusive label featuring a hand-signed signature from the Director of the South African Mint, Honey Mamabolo.

Extremely Limited Release

If you haven’t already grabbed the phone to secure your 2022 Gold, Platinum and Silver Big 5 Series II African Lion Proofs, now is the time to get after it! Only 500 Platinum Proofs, only 600 Gold Proofs and only 3,000 Silver Proofs were authorized. Fewer of each of those mintages are certified in flawless PF70 condition with a First Day of Issue pedigree and hand-signed labels. Following the success of the South African Mint’s other wildlife releases, these Series II coins are in high demand, and will likely disappear fast from our vault.

What all that adds up to is simple—act now or wind up empty-handed.

2022 One-Ounce Gold Big 5 Series II Lion Proof PF70 FDI Mamabolo

Second Release of the Big 5 Series II
One Ounce of High-Purity 99.99% Pure Gold
50 Rand South Africa Legal Tender
Innovative Bisected Lion Design
Certified by NGC as Proof-70 (PF70)
Certified by NGC as First Day of Issue (FDI)
Exclusive Label Hand-Signed by Honey Mamabolo
Only 600 Authorized Worldwide, extremely limited availability in the U.S. market

2022 One-Ounce Platinum Big 5 Series II Lion Proof PF70 FDI Mamabolo

Second Release of the Big 5 Series II
One Ounce of 99.95% Fine Platinum
20 Rand South Africa Legal Tender
Innovative Bisected Lion Design
Certified by NGC as Proof-70 (PF70)
Certified by NGC as First Day of Issue (FDI)
Exclusive Label Hand-Signed by Honey Mamabolo
Only 500 Authorized Worldwide, extremely limited availability in the U.S. market

2022 One-Ounce Silver Big 5 Series II Lion Proof PF70 FDI Mamabolo

Second Release of the Big 5 Series II
One Ounce of 99.9% Fine Silver
5 Rand South Africa Legal Tender
Innovative Bisected Lion Design
Certified by NGC as Proof-70 (PF70)
Certified by NGC as First Day of Issue (FDI)
Only 3,000 Authorized Worldwide, extremely limited availability in the U.S. market