Tanzania: 1972 copper-nickel 5-shilingi, United Nations F.A.O. issue

Tanzania: 1972 copper-nickel 5-shilingi, United Nations F.A.O. issue

PCGS MS63. Cert. #37681949. The sole certified example as of 2025.

Numista-8233. Krause-Mishler-6.

Diameter: 31.5 mm (decagonal- 10-sided). Weight: 13.8 g. Mintage: 8,000,000.

This issue is part of the massive output of commemorative coins of various nations that were produced in partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The collecting of FAO coins is a popular specialty. This Tanzanian design shows staple food items: cereal crops, bananas, corn (maize), and a cow on the reverse.

Some may wonder why I spent nearly fifty dollars to certify this piece, which was worth only about three dollars as of the time I discovered it in a bulk bag of world coins. I was pleased to find one, let alone a Mint State example, in that bulk lot. You see, I lived in Tanzania in 1972 as a child, and for my first allowance, my parents would give me one of these coins every week if I had been well-behaved. I recall buying a model airplane kit with one. So this coin was added to the collection for purely sentimental reasons.

As of 2025 this coin remains the top-population example at PCGS- in fact, the sole certified example in any grade- simply by virtue of the fact that nobody else has bothered to submit one.

Ex-bulk bag find; source lot from WNC Coins, LLC. Purchased raw.



005010

 

Yeah, the hairlines kept the grade down, for sure. (In fact, I think the MS63 grade was charitable.) But like you said, it's nicely struck, and there's some luster there. I'm just glad it got an MS grade.

And even a slightly hairlined 63 rules the roost as the top-pop example, when you're the only person who ever bothered to submit one.

 

To be perfectly candid, if this was somebody else's coin and posted in a blind "guess the grade" thread, I most likely would have guessed MS61.

PCGS cut me some slack on this one, it seems. I think the luster is what did it.