South Africa, 1953 AD., Elizabeth II, Pretoria mint, 1/2 Penny, KM 45.

South Africa, Elizabeth II, engravers: Mary Gillick (obverse) and George Edward Kruger Gray (reverse), Pretoria mint, 1953 AD.,
1/2 Penny (25,6 mm / 5,72 g), copper, 5,67 g. theor. mint weight, mintage 5.572.463 , axis medal alignment ↑↑ (0°), plain edge,
Obv.: ELIZABETH II REGINA , her laureate head facing right (1st portrait).
Rev.: SOUTH AFRICA · 1953 · SUID-AFRIKA / KG / ※ 1/2 D. ※ , sailor "Dromedaris" to right on a sea of waves, engraver´s initials KG before, value below between spacers/X-like decorations between dots.
KM 45 ; Hern S74 .

Year / Mintage
1953 5.572.463
1953 5,000 Proof
1954 100,897
1954 3,150 Proof
1955 3,774,249
1955 2,850 Proof
1956 1,304,574
1956 1,700 Proof
1957 2,025,085
1957 1,130 Proof
1958 2,170,585
1958 985 Proof
1959 2,396,818
1959 950 Proof
1960 2.551.794
1960 3,360 Proof

A Dutch East India Company expedition of 90 Calvinist settlers, under the command of Jan van Riebeeck, founded the first permanent settlement near the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Jan van Riebeeck was on one of the rescue ships that had come to rescue the shipwrecked sailors, and upon seeing the land, he decided to return. They arrived in the harbour of modern-day Cape Town on 6 April 1652 with five ships: Reijer, Oliphant, Goede Hoop, Walvisch and Dromedaris. On 24 December 1651 Jan van Riebeeck set off, accompanied by his wife and son, from Texel in the Netherlands for the Cape of Good Hope having been appointed on a five-year contract as an employee of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). His task was to set up a refreshment station which could be used by VOC ships on their way to the spice-rich Far East.
His ship, the Drommedaris, sailed with two other ships, Reijger and De Goede Hoop, and Table Mountain was sighted on the 5th of April 1652. Within a week of his landing on 6 April, Van Riebeeck had begun work on the Fort of Good Hope.