LILANGENI: COIN OF SWAZILAND
2 emalangeni /lilangeni/, 2003: Kingdom of Swaziland
2 EMALANGENI (the name of the denomination of the coin is indicated in the plural form).
Two lily flowers.
SWAZILAND (the name of the modern state of Eswatini as of 2013).
Mswati III — King of Eswatini (the last absolute monarch in Africa) and head of the Swazi royal family in traditional outfit.
- Brass: 24 mm - 4.97 g
- Reference price: 1$
COIN LILANGENI — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- ESWATINI (1968-...) — Kingdom of Swaziland (until 2018) + Kingdom of Eswatini (since 2018): lilangeni = 100 cent
LILANGENI as coin name.
Lilangeni (plural: emalangeni) — coin and official currency of Swaziland (since 2018, Eswatini). Divided into 100 cents.
In 1968, a series of silver and gold collectible coins were issued (for numismatists), including 1 lilangeni. At that time, only the rand of the neighboring South African Republic was used as money for everyday use on the territory of the Kingdom (now these currencies are used in parallel in Eswatini in ratio 1:1).
The first circulating emalangeni in the form of coins are dated 1974 and contain a portrait of the first king of Swaziland — Sobhuza II.
It is interesting that the 1 lilangeni coin of the 1986 type is identical in terms of its technical parameters (weight, diameter, material) to the British pound of 1983. This was actively used by fraudsters: at one time, a significant number of coins of an African state were removed from vending machines in Great Britain (their cost was 20 times cheaper).
In the local Swazi language, the word "lilangeni" means a measure of weight. This is only one version of the origin of the name of the coin. There are also such — currency's name derives from: "emaLangeni" — a term used to describe the ancestors of the Swazi people who migrated to Swaziland in the 18th-19th centuries", "lilanga" — sun, or from "lilangani" — royal, noble... It was not possible to find an official explanation.
