LOTI: COIN OF LESOTHO
5 loti (maloti), 1998: Kingdom of Lesotho
Ruler: Letsie III — king of Lesotho in 1990-1995 and 1996-...
5 MALOTI (singular form of maloti — loti).
Five ears of wheat (Lesotho is the African producer of this cereal grain crop).
KINGDOM OF LESOTHO.
Coat of arms of Lesotho: crocodile on a Basotho (prominent Sotho-Tswana ethnic group with roots in Southern Africa) shield. Behind the shield there are two crossed weapons — an assegai (lance) and a knobkierie (wooden club). To the left and right of the shield are supporters of the shield, two Basotho horses. In the foreground there is a ribbon with the national motto of Lesotho — Sesotho "Khotso, Pula, Nala" (Peace, Rain, Prosperity). The crocodile on the shield has been retained from the arms of colonial Basutoland, the predecessor to Lesotho.
- Nickel plated steel: 25 mm - 6.41 g
- Reference price: 2.5$
COIN LOTI — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- KINGDOM OF LESOTHO (1966-...): loti = 100 sente
LOTI as coin name.
Loti (plural: maloti) — official monetary unit of the Kingdom of Lesotho (southern Africa, an enclave state of the Republic of South Africa). It divided into 100 lisente (singular: sente).
Formally introduced immediately after the declaration of independence of Lesotho from Great Britain in 1966. Commemorative gold coins were first minted in the same 1966 (1, 2 and 4 maloti, dedicated to the achievement of independence; what is interesting, at that time the denomination was specified in the format "maloti" even for the lowest denomination — 1 MALOTI).
The first circulating coins date back to 1979. In fact, the currency was introduced in 1980 instead of the South African rand. The loti and the rand of neighboring South Africa have a 1:1 exchange rate.
In the official language of Lesotho, Sesotho, the name of the loti coin literally translates as "mountain". By the way, the largest mountains in the country — Dragon's Mountain (Drakensberg), — are called Maloti in local language.
