NAMIBIA (SOUTH WEST AFRICA) – UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA ADMINISTRATION (1915-1990)
COMMEMORATING THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE REITERDENKMAL STATUE (1912-1987)
APARTHEID ERA ISSUE (1947-1944)
PLATINUM 100 RAND PROBE (PATTERN) COIN CERTIFED BY NGC PROOF 68 ULTRA CAMEO
RARE - ONLY 15 KNOWN MINTED!
OBV: BUSHRIDER “REITERDENKMAL” EQUESTRIAN STATUE CENTER FLANKED BY ANNIVERSARY DATES; OUTER CIRCLE WITH SCALLOPED ORNAMENTAL EDGE AND THE LEGEND ABOVE “*DEUTSCH – SÜDWESTAFRIKA*”, WITH PROVINCE NAME “NAMIBIA” FLANKED BY LAUREL GARLANDS AT BOTTOM.
REV: SCALLOPED ORNAMENT AT EDGE; ACACIA TREE LEFT WITH ELEPHANT AND BABY RIGHT; DENOMINATION IN EXERGUE.
THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE ON THE OBVERSE OF THIS COIN IS OF A CORPORAL OF THE GERMAN COLONIAL ARMY BUSHRIDERS. THE NAME OF THE STATUE IS REITERDENKMAL, BUT IT IS ALSO KNOWN AS SÜDWESTER REITER (SOUTH-WEST RIDER). IT WAS DEDICATED ON JANUARY 27, 1912 ON THE 53rd BIRTHDAY OF GERMAN EMPEROR WILHELM II, AND THE INSCRIPTION ON THE BASE IS DEDICATED TO THE GERMAN WARRIORS AND CITIZENS THAT DIED DURING THE HERERO AND NAMAQUA WAR OF 1904-1907, AND THE KALAHARI EXPEDITION OF 1908. MADE OF BRONZE, THE STATUE IS 15’ IN HEIGHT AND STOOD ON A BASE OF GRANITE ROCKS AN ADDITIONAL 16’ HIGH. THIS CONTROVERTIAL STATUE ONCE STOOD IN A PLACE OF PROMINENCE ACROSS FROM THE HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH IN WINDHOEK, THE NAMIBIAN CAPITAL. BECAUSE OF ITS LINKS TO COLONIALISM, THE HERRERO NAMAQUA GENOCIDE, AND THE DAYS OF APARTHEID, THE STATUE HAS SUBSEQUENTLY BEEN REMOVED, WITHOUT ITS BASE, AND IT WAS PLACED IN FRONT OF THE ALTE FESTE FORTRESS AND MUSEUM. ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 2012, THE STATUE WAS PLACED IN STORAGE.
THE HERRERO NAMAQUA GENOCIDE WAS CARRIED OUT BY THE GERMAN COLONIAL FORCES IN SOUTH WEST AFRICA UNDER THE COMMAND OF GENERAL LOTHAR von TROTHA, IN RETALIATION FOR UPRISINGS BY THE HERRERO AND NAMA PEOPLES. IT IS CONSIDERED THE FIRST GENOCIDE OF THE 20th CENTURY, BEGINNING WITH THE DRIVING OF THE REBEL POPULATIONS INTO THE DESERT TO DIE OF STAVATION AND DEHYDRATION, THEN IMPRISONMENT IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS, WHERE THE VICTIMS DIED OF DISEASE, ABUSE AND EXTERMINATION, EXHAUSTION FROM FORCED LABOR, AND OTHER INHUMAN TREATMENTS. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 34,000 TO 110,000 NATIVE NAMIBIANS DIED IN THE GENOCIDE. THESE INCIDENTS LEAD MANY TO BELIEVE THAT THEY WERE A PRECURSOR TO NAZI GENOCIDAL POLICIES, AND THE DEATH CAMPS OF THE HOLOCAUST.
THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLONIZED SOUTH-WEST AFRICA TO DETER BRITISH ENCROACHMENT. GERMAN RULE LASTED FROM 1884 UNTIL 1915, WHEN SOUTH AFRICA SIEZED CONTROL FROM THE GERMANS DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR. FROM 1919 SOUTH AFRICA CONTROLLED THE AREA BY LEAGUE OF NATIONS MANDATE AS STIPULATED IN THE VERSAILLES TREATY, BUT WHEN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS WAS REPLACED WITH THE UNITED NATIONS IN 1946, SOUTH AFRICA REFUSED TO RELINQUISH ITS EARLIER MANDATE. SOUTH AFRICA RETAINED ILLEGAL CONTROL OF THE TERRITORY, REFUSING TO GRANT INDEPENDENCE TO NAMIBIA, AND ESTABLISHING APARTHEID WITHIN THE REGION. SOUTH WEST AFRICA WAS RECOGNIZED AS NAMIBIA BY THE UNITED NATIONS IN 1968. PLANS FOR A TANSITION TO NAMIBIAN INDEPENDENCE WERE LAID OUT BY THE U.N. IN 1978, BUT NOT UNTIL AFTER YEARS OF WARFARE DID SOUTH AFRICA AGREE TO THE RESOLUTION IN 1988, AND NAMIBIA MADE THE TRANSITION TO ITS OWN GOVERNMENT IN 1990.
CONTAINS 6.45 GRAMS OF.900 PLATINUM (O.1866 OZ APW)
22mm IN DIAMETER
ONLY 15 MINTED!
