The Somalia Elephant - a brief overview

[FourNinesFine]

ABOUT THIS POST

I began collecting Somalian Silver Elephants quite early in my stacking journey. My son is obsessed with elephants and I thought it would be nice to have a portion of my stack set aside specifically to be handed over to him. Over the past 12 months, I've scoured the internet, this forum etc. to better understand the series and, of course, in the hopes of completing the full date run. [Please check out my signature for details of which coins I'm still looking for]

 

I couldn't find anywhere that catalogued the full series, so in the spirit of sharing what I've learned, I wanted to put together a quick guide to this collection of coins for anyone else that may be interested in them.

Disclaimer:  I'm no expert and I don't claim that this is list is the authority on the matter. It's just info I've collected from various sources and I won't pretend that I've verified all the details independently. I would encourage you to do your own research before taking my findings as gospel.

There's no single source of the truth when it comes to mintage numbers. Most conventional wisdom suggests that the first 5 years (2004 - 2008) had only around 5000 units produced, though Numista does have some higher amounts listed. 

I'll continue to research but in the meantime, the info should be treated as a guesstimate. 

 

HISTORY

The Somalian Elephant - or "African Wildlife Elephant" has a denomination of 100 Somali Republic Shillings.

2023 marks the 20^th anniversary of this coin in its current form, having been first minted in 2004. It’s roots though, trace even farther back, to the Zambia Elephant coin, minted between 1999 - 2003 and with a denomination of 5000 Kwacha.

It is produced by the Bavarian State Mint.

It has become one of the most popular 1oz silver bullion coins for collectors and has spawned a range of alternate designs and versions, beginning in 2012 with the introduction of privy marks.

2016 saw the first minting of the Platinum Somalia Elephant. And it wasn't until 2017 that this iconic coin became available in fractional silver units.

Over the years, many different variations have been minted as part of specific annual productions, notably, ‘colourised’ and ‘antiqued’ finishes; collectors sets and bundles and even a seasonal Christmas snow-globe in 2023.

 

A note on GOLD:  I've found the information on the Gold Somalian Elephant coins to be sketchy at best and I'll try and collate and improve what I know periodically. So far, it would seem that fractionals - including 1/50th - have been available from 2004. However, the earliest 1oz Gold Elephant coin I've been able to track down so far was 2010 minting.

 

 

The Zambia Elephant  (1999 - 2003)

Mintage thought to be only c.5000 for each year of production.

 

 

 

 

Portrait of QEll used on reverse

Note the change in artistic direction. Very much emblematic of the design synonymous with the Somalian Elephant that this range would transition to from 2004.

 

 

The Somalia Elephant  (2004 - present)

 

Mintage: 5000

 

Mintage: 5000 (Numista: 25000)

 

Mintage: 10000 (Numista 20000)

Mintage:  5000

Mintage: 5000

Mintage: 130,000

A 2010 version also exists that features the same obverse as the 2009 coin. This "mule" version has become highly collectible. 

Mintage: 170,000

Mintage: 80000

Mintage: 130,000

Mintage: 226,206

 

The 2015 version showing the 'Ag' overstamped on the original error of 'Au'.

Some 1500 were minted in error. However 1000 were destroyed by the mint leaving only approximately 500 known to have entered circulation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FNF.

 

I don't know why the image of the 2005 version is repeated here. I can't delete it. So unlike the trees and foliage depicted, it won't leave!

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by FourNinesFine

[silvergaga]

Great article, I will look and see if I have any of your missing years.

[Stuntman]

Really interesting - thanks for posting and sharing.

I only have one of these coins, mine is a 2018 1oz silver.  

Which designs are your favourites?

[FourNinesFine]

3 minutes ago, Stuntman said:

Which designs are your favourites?

The 2022 is my favourite. I also like the 2015 - so I guess there must be something in there about this being for me and my lad.

There's something to be said about the simplicity of the 2004 as well. 

[Stuntman]

^^^ Nice.  I think the 2007 probably fits the pattern as well, but I agree that the 2022 is really nice.

When your lad's a bit older, maybe the 2020...

[Silversaving]

If I wasn't in a different country I'd help you out on a few of those years.  I collected them as well when I first started out.  Also have some still wrapped rolls of the 2017 1/10th and 1/4 oz fractionals.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Silversaving

[FourNinesFine]

That's awesome. 

I'll bookmark this message and if I'm still struggling decades from now, I'll have to start making overseas journeys! 

😀 

[sovereignsteve]

There was also a 2010 version with the reverse (elephant) 2009 design (?mule). I've no idea how many were minted but it was a substantial number.

[Chrisplym]

I was also a collector of these and have quite a few different years as well as some with privy marks. I will try to take a look over the weekend to see if I have any of your missing ones.

[sovereignsteve]

I have all the Somali you are missing, they took some putting togather and some were pretty expensive. I might be willing to release them to a good home but only as a set I think, but I would have no idea how to value them.

[FourNinesFine]

I've had some further info, above and through PMs so will look to update the post over the weekend.

Thanks @sovereignsteve, that's interesting. Obviously I'd be interested in picking these up if you have them available but I have no idea on valuing then either. If any of them have gone astronomical, it may stretch my budget...

I'll try and do some research but if you have any thoughts let me know.

Thanks too @Chrisplym. If it's easy enough for you to check, then that would be good. It may be that sovereignsteve can supply all in one batch so I'm exploring that, so please don't go out of your way. But if simple enough then I'd be interested.

 

Thanks. 

[sovereignsteve]

Did you find a good source for mintages? I believe the first few years were much lower than later.

[sovereignsteve]

Germany was always the best place to source them. IIRC the guy who get prosecuted for ripping off customers was a very good source. Some of the old timers might be able to remember his name.

[Seasider]

You might want to look on here for German dealers with Elephants in stock

Somalia Elefant Silber | Preise vergleichen auf GOLD.DE

Of course there is the dreaded Customs palaver if you import from Germany these days.

There was also a 15 year commemorative in 2018 with a mix of the 2004 version and the 2018 version.  It always looked to me as if the 2004 elephant was levitating so I wasn't keen on it - perhaps that is why I remember it.

[sovereignsteve]

7 hours ago, Seasider said:

You might want to look on here for German dealers with Elephants in stock

Somalia Elefant Silber | Preise vergleichen auf GOLD.DE

Of course there is the dreaded Customs palaver if you import from Germany these days.

There was also a 15 year commemorative in 2018 with a mix of the 2004 version and the 2018 version.  It always looked to me as if the 2004 elephant was levitating so I wasn't keen on it - perhaps that is why I remember it.

One dealer listed with a 2004.........€329 !!!

[Chrisplym]

Good morning @FourNinesFine. I have the following years of the Somali 1oz silver elephant:

2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2012, 2012 (dragon privy), 2013, 2013 (snake privy), 2014, 2014 (horse privy), 2015, 2016, 2017, 2017 (rooster privy), 2019, 2019 (pig privy), 2020.

I have to admit that I had forgotten how nice these coins look so I am no longer sure whether I want to sell. Sorry about this.

[Chrisplym]

@FourNinesFine On a more positive note, I do have some of the following Somali elephant privy coins spare if of interest:

2012 privy dragon

2017 privy rooster

2019 privy pig

 

[FourNinesFine]

2 hours ago, Chrisplym said:

Good morning @FourNinesFine. 

I have to admit that I had forgotten how nice these coins look so I am no longer sure whether I want to sell. Sorry about this.

Completely understandable. No problem. 👍 

[silvergaga]

I also looked at the coins I have in my collection, and I also see why I collected them in the first place.

Like the African Wildlife Series that started in 2008 with the Gorilla, this first coin in the set fetches £300 nowadays.

I've no idea what the 2004 Somali Elephant would cost now.

[silvergaga]

Looked at my Somali Elephants today. I have 2010,2011,2015,2016,2017, 4x2018, and 2021.

PM me if any interest here.

[FourNinesFine]

I've done some further research over the weekend in order to try and establish mintage numbers. 

I'm updating the original post with findings. 

There are some discrepancies but where I could find at least a couple of sources with the same figure, I've gone with that. Some couldn't be corroborated so are assumptions. But again, I'm not claiming any authority on this info... just sharing what I've found so far. 

@sovereignsteve it looks like the mintage for the first 5 years was very low. Certainly only 5000 in 2004 and there's a fair chance that the numbers are similar for 05 through 08... though Numista does suggest up to 25,000 for 2005 and 20,000 for 2006 (but this latter may be due to the minting of an anniversary coin in the same year).

In any event, the 2004 looks like it's in the £300 region and if the rest of the early run follows a similar trend, it blows my chances of buying them in one go as a set. 

If your are minded at any point to sell them as single units, or to bundle the higher mintage ones (2009+), let me know.

 

[FourNinesFine]

Thanks to @PapaLazarou for some further info on the Zambia Elephant run and a reminder to include the 2015 'mule'.

🐘 🐘

[sovereignsteve]

On 03/04/2023 at 10:43, FourNinesFine said:

The 2015 "mule" showing the 'Ag' overstamped on the original error of 'Au'.

Not really a mule which is when an obverse and reverse that shouldn't be together are used. This is really an "overdate" or "die error"

It's the 2010 /2009 that is the mule.

[FourNinesFine]

1 hour ago, sovereignsteve said:

Not really a mule which is when an obverse and reverse that shouldn't be together are used. This is really an "overdate" or "die error"

It's the 2010 /2009 that is the mule.

All i can say in my defense is that there are multiple sources that refer to this as a mule: 

"... a mule coin is one struck from two dies which were never intended to be used together."

 

But I'm not experienced enough to argue with anyone about it.  😆

[sovereignsteve]

I suppose the only way this is a true mule is if the Ag overstamp was done on a die intended for a gold coin, but I would think this is feasible as the gold die would be much smaller.