Global demand for special coin |15 January 2013

Selling at R700 or its equivalent overseas, the R10 coin has attracted significant interest abroad where some of the 5,000 pieces of the gold plated souvenir are being sold, the bank said on Monday.

A spokesperson said people abroad knew about it through the cbs.sc website where it has been advertised since the beginning of the year.

Potential local buyers knew about it only last week after it was advertised in the local media, hence it is not yet possible to gauge people’s reaction, he said.

The coin weighs half a gram and is 11mm in diameter.

“The coin has been issued to celebrate the Seychelles’ extraordinary and astounding natural beauty,” says the CBS in its advert which appeared during the weekend.

“This small and very delicate gold coin depicts one of the most fascinating and rare plants of the world, the Nepenthes pervillei  – Lalyann potao in Creole – which is a carnivorous plant that catches its prey, mostly insects, in its deadly pitcher leaves,” said the CBS.