User:Eric Bolsmann

The Humblest Coin

Eric Bolsmann

It was only a few years when a friend of mine suggested, “Next time you empty your small change into the cup of the hands of someone less fortunate than you, make sure that you always include one of the tiny 1 cent pieces, and that you tell him the significance of the illustration on the coin.” Unlike my friend, who is a philanthropist, I predicted that the beggar, probably unable to comprehend the meaning behind the sparrows facing each other opposite South Africa’s coat of arms, would throw the coin back at the well-meaning donor. Significances and symbolism do not fill the stomachs of the hungry, nor do cent coins for that matter.

Never mind being penny wise. We all know that the minute coins have become virtually extinct. If you should happen to have a few lying around, be assured that neither trader nor bank will accept them, in spite of the fact that they are valid currency. So, why should a beggar bother? But let me relate the significance of the one cent coin story my friend told me anyhow.

Just after the South African War of 1899-1902, Jan Smuts and Rachel Isabel Steyn, who was the wife of the President of the Orange Free State, decided to fulfil a wish expressed by the Boer women who had survived the concentration camps. Their wish was that the smallest denomination in the South African coinage should bear the emblem of the humble sparrow, to remind each one of us of the verses in St Matthew’s gospel, which tell us our worth in the eyes of God. Matthew 10: vs 29-31: Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father knowing. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

“And this is the significance why we should resist any proposal to have it dropped from our coinage,” was the message of my friend. The South African Reserve Bank, however, put forward an argument according to which the cost of copper-plating the steel of the one cent coins exceeds that of the buying power of the monetary units themselves. By dropping the one cent coin, the two cent pieces became automatically redundant. There was no conspiracy. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

That the bank has a point can be seen by the fact that a Cape Town yacht builder found it cheaper to drill holes through the coins and use them as washers instead, as was reported in the press. Whether the entrepreneur realised that defacing valid currency is illegal and punishable by law, I do not know.

If the argument about the expensive copper holds water, one may ask why the large 5 c coins, about double in size to the 10 cent pieces, are still in circulation. Will the coins with our national bird, the blue crane become extinct too? It stands to reason that the National Reserve Bank will do away with copper altogether if it costs this private institution more than the coins are worth. But are there no alternatives? Years ago rand coins contained more silver than the pieces were worth, but before they were replaced the content of the expensive metal was simply dropped.

Some of us remember that once upon a time we paid a half a cent for a box of matches. The sparrows decorated the 1/2 cent coins! With the birds having been upgraded to the 1 cent pieces, should we now campaign to have them replace the blue crane on the 5 c coins? It won’t happen that easily. The little brown coins barely the size of the nail of one’s little finger are, after all, still legal tender. And looking at advertisements, I predict that they will keep this status for years to come. But why then are the coins refused by supermarket cashiers? Is counting the seemingly worthless pieces seen as wasting their time? But wait a minute. If the coins are indeed worthless, why then do businesses advertise their merchandise in figures minus one cent? Regardless whether the Reserve Bank stopped having the copper pieces produced, do I not have a right to finger the cute little coins out of my wallet and pay R9,99 in hard cash, if I have the cash, that is, for an item that is advertised at this price? If this is my constitutional right, why do banks and businesses refuse my humble coins bearing the significant message? If administering one and two cent coins is costly, is it not more extravagant to advertise an item at, say 9,99, or 99,99 for that matter, print out the receipt with a discount of four cents, pay me back 5 cents on the R10 or R100 tendered and then administer the transaction? And who is footing the administration bill anyhow ? We are all familiar with the psychology of advertising goods at a cent below the nearest rand. But taken this inflationary practice aside, is it legal to advertise an item for a price that is not accepted by a trader, or in a denomination that is no longer available? When the coins with the birds were still in circulation but had been officially placed on the list of endangered species, I took Telkom for a test. I insisted, tongue in cheek, that I’d be given the four cents change owed to me according to my telephone account. The little coins were handed over to me with a smile and you have guessed it, my praise for the often criticised institution is overflowing. But empty an old piggy box and insist that the financial institution you keep in business with your housing bond and loans take your savings!. Whether you drop a few coins adorned with the humble sparrows on the tellers’ tray or come with a jar filled to the brim with the copper pieces, the teller will not budge. Even if you plead with the manager, if you tell him the significance of the symbolism and quote St Matthew, your message will fall on deaf ears. If you’re too persistent, the chances that security will be called are real. There are, of course, people to whom the dropping of the coins is nothing but calculated conspiracy. The government’s disregard for small change bearing the symbol of a Bible gospel is a step in the direction of a godlessly cashless society, they claim to know. Let’s not go this route but should we not campaign to make the sparrows of St Matthew’s gospel a protected species, perhaps as a replacement of the crane bird on a 5 cent piece? When their time has ran out, the 5 cent pieces that is, the sparrows could once more be upgraded, would you not think so?