This Heritage Day, it’s all about the flowers

Heritage can be celebrated in many ways. In the stories we tell. The places we protect. The objects we keep.

And, sometimes, in the coins we collect.

This Heritage Day, The Scoin Shop is celebrating a particularly beautiful South African story: Table Mountain and the Cape Floral Region, captured in precious metal by Monnaie de Paris.

For its 2026 UNESCO World Heritage Series, the French mint has turned its attention to one of South Africa’s most recognisable landscapes – creating a collectable that brings together heritage, craftsmanship and modern numismatics.

When a coin becomes a keepsake

Collectable coins have always done more than mark monetary value. They record people, places, anniversaries and moments in history.

That’s part of their enduring appeal.

A well-chosen collectable can become a miniature time capsule – something tangible that connects its owner to a bigger story.

In this case, that story is unmistakably South African.

Table Mountain anchors the design, while the King Protea represents the extraordinary Cape Floral Region surrounding it. The region has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004.

But translating an entire landscape onto the surface of a coin is no simple task.

Joaquin Jimenez, Chief Engraver and Director of Artistic Creation at Monnaie de Paris, was particularly drawn to the King Protea.

“The King Protea made a lasting impression. Its bold, crown-like structure translates beautifully into relief on metal,” he explains.

“Capturing that extraordinary resilience in a few millimetres of engraved metal was a wonderful challenge.”

Made for collectors

For numismatists, the story goes beyond the design.

The series has been produced across four Proof editions, each with a defined mintage:

• €10 silver Proof – 5,000 coins

• €250 gold Proof – 150 coins

• €500 gold Proof – 25 coins

• €1,000 gold Proof – 10 coins

Those numbers matter in collecting.

Mintage is part of a coin’s identity and provenance. It tells collectors exactly how many examples of a particular edition can exist and helps distinguish one issue within a broader series.

Add the subject, the precious metal, the Proof finish and Joaquin Jimenez’s interpretation of one of South Africa’s best-known landscapes, and the result is a distinctly modern numismatic collectable.

A little piece of South Africa

There is also something wonderfully old-fashioned about taking home an object that tells a story.

In a world of photographs stored on phones and memories shared online, a collectable is physical. You can hold it. Display it. Pass it on.

For an international visitor, it can be a rather extraordinary souvenir of the Cape. For a South African collector, it captures a familiar part of our national story in an entirely different form.

And that feels especially appropriate for Heritage Day.

Our heritage is not only something we look back on. It is something we choose to record, collect and preserve.

This year, we’re doing it with flowers.

The 2026 UNESCO World Heritage Series: Table Mountain & the Cape Floral Region is available in South Africa exclusively through The Scoin Shop.