1980 Series: Pioneers of Southern Africa - CECIL JOHN RHODES - Cape Mint (.925)

Description

1980 SERIES: PIONEERS OF SOUTH AFRICA -
SILVER PROOF
by CAPE MINT (obo SA Historical Mint) in 1980 (92,5%)
- CECIL JOHN RHODES 1853-1902
Form:
Circular. Proof with frosted designs  /
Size and weight
: 34
mm
;
19,6 grams
Obverse:
Bust of pioneer, signed: "Pagliari". Legend below: the name of the pioneer and his year of birth and death.
Reverse
:
Scene of a significant episode in the pioneer's life.
According to WIKIPEDIA: "
Rhodes was a British mining magnate, and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890-96. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895. South Africa's Rhodes University is also named after him. Rhodes set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate. He also put much effort towards his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory....
The son of a vicar, Rhodes was born at Netteswell House, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. He was a sickly child. He was sent to South Africa by his family when he was 17 years old in the hope that the climate might improve his health. He entered the diamond trade at Kimberley in 1871, when he was 18, and over the next two decades gained near-complete domination of the world diamond market. His diamond company De Beers, formed in 1888, retained its prominence into the 21st century...
Rhodes entered the Cape Parliament at the age of 27 in 1881,[3] and in 1890, he became Prime Minister. After overseeing the formation of Rhodesia during the early 1890s, he was forced to resign in 1896 after the disastrous Jameson Raid, an unauthorised attack on Paul Kruger's South African Republic (or Transvaal). Rhodes's career never recovered; his heart was weak and after years of poor health he died in 1902."