News24 | Table Mountain makes its way onto French coins as world’s oldest mint salutes Cape Flora

• France’s Monnaie de Paris, the world’s oldest continuously operating minting institution, has struck a 2026 collectable coin series honouring Table Mountain and the Cape Floral Region.
• The Cape Floral Region is the smallest of the world’s six recognised floral kingdoms, yet holds roughly 9 000 plant species — around 69% of them endemic — packed into less than 0.5% of Africa’s land area.
• The series was designed by Monnaie de Paris chief engraver Joaquim Jimenez, who was captivated by the king protea’s relationship with fire and its resilience in the fynbos landscape.

France’s Monnaie de Paris has struck a 2026 collectable coin series honouring Table Mountain and the Cape Floral Region, giving South Africa’s smallest but richest floral kingdom an international platform.

The Cape Floral Region on Africa’s southern tip is the smallest of the world’s six recognised floral kingdoms – but when it comes to plant diversity, it punches spectacularly above its weight.

Around 9 000 plant species occur in the region, and approximately 69% of those are endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else on Earth. The region represents less than 0.5% of Africa’s land area, yet it contains nearly 20% of the continent’s flora.

And this remarkable botanical landscape has inspired a new international collectable coin series.

For its 2026 UNESCO World Heritage Series, Monnaie de Paris – the world’s oldest continuously operating mint operating since 864 CE – has chosen to honour Table Mountain and the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas, which were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004.

Table Mountain anchors the composition, surrounded by imagery evoking the rich plant life and protected landscapes of the region.

“The king protea (Protea cynaroides) made a lasting impression,” said Joqauin Jimenez, chief engraver and director of artistic creation of Monnaie de Paris.

“Its bold, crown-like structure translates beautifully into relief on metal. But beyond its physical shape, I was fascinated by its relationship with fire – how it needs the heat of bushfires to release its seeds and regenerate.”

It is a fitting tribute to a place UNESCO describes as one of the world’s great centres of terrestrial biodiversity.

Joqauin Jimenez, chief engraver and director of artistic creation at Monnaie de Paris, said it was a wonderful challenge capturing Cape Flora on a coin.

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A South African story, recognised in France 

For Jimenez, the significance of the coin extends beyond the design.

“I hope this coin tells a story of stewardship and enduring wonder. It is a miniature archive of our planet’s natural heritage.

“Decades or even centuries from now, I hope whoever holds this coin remembers that art and nature are deeply intertwined, and that the natural treasures of the Cape Floral Region are worth preserving for generations to come.‘’

At the heart of the Cape Floral Kingdom is fynbos – the distinctive vegetation that gives much of the Cape its unmistakable character.

Proteas may be its most famous ambassadors, but they are only one part of a complex botanical picture. The region is also renowned for its ericas, restios, buchus, bulbs, pelargoniums and other flowering plants, many of which occur nowhere else.

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These plants have evolved within a landscape shaped by nutrient-poor soils, winter rainfalls, dry summers, and periodic fire.

Fire, for example, is an important natural ecological process with fynbos. Certain plants regenerate from underground structures after a burn, while others rely on fire-related cues to release their seeds.

It was this relationship between form, ecology and resilience that captured Jimenez's imagination.

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

Today, the UNESCO World Heritage Site comprises 13 protected-area clusters covering more than one hectare.

South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom has been honoured in silver and gold as part of Monnaie de Paris' new collectable series.

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South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom has been honoured in silver and gold as part of Monnaie de Paris' new collectable series.

Supplied

Proteas are only the beginning 

Beyond the Protea, Cape flora has an incredibly rich diversity.

Ericas are at the centre of diversity for the genus, from delicate bell-shaped blooms to intensely coloured tubular flowers that define many fynbos landscapes.

Restios, often described as reed-like, bring texture and architectural structure to the landscape. They are characteristic of the Cape flora and have become increasingly familiar with contemporary landscape design.

Buchus, traditionally valued for their aromatic leaves, form part of the distinctive scent and texture of the fynbos landscape and carry a long association with indigenous knowledge and use.

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Gladioli, Watsonias, and numerous other species transform seemingly understated landscapes into spectacular seasonal displays.

Pelargoniums – the plants gardeners around the world know as geranium – have their own origins in southern Africa and form another important part of the region’s botanical heritage.

The red disa, one of the Cape’s most striking indigenous orchids, is closely associated with mountain streams and wetter areas of the Cape. Its vivid scarlet flowers have made it one of the region’s most recognisable botanical icons.

Together, these plants help explain why the Cape Floral Kingdom attracts botanists, horticulturists, and plant enthusiasts from around the world.

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