Cape Buffalo & Great Zimbabwe Bird 10 Dollars Zimbabwe Authentic Coin Money for Jewelry and Craft Making (Wild African Buffalo) (Shona)

Cape Buffalo & Great Zimbabwe Bird 10 Dollars Zimbabwe Authentic Coin Money for Jewelry and Craft Making (Wild African Buffalo) (Hyperinflation) (Shona)

Reverse: Cape Buffalo (Major sub-species of African Buffalo)
Lettering: ZIMBABWE
$10
TEN DOLLARS

Obverse: Great Zimbabwe Bird. The design is derived from soapstone sculptures found in the ruins of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe, probably representing sacred or totemic animals of the Shona – the bateleur eagle (Shona: chapungu), which was held to be a messenger from Mwari (God) and the ancestors, or the fish eagle (hungwe) which it has been suggested was the original totem of the Shona.
Date: 2003

Edge: Interrupted reeding (5 sections)

Features
Issuer Zimbabwe
Period Republic (1980-date)
Type Standard circulation coin
Year 2003
Value 10 Dollars (10.00 ZWR)
Currency Third Dollar (2007-2008)
Composition Nickel plated steel
Weight 5.2 g
Diameter 21.47 mm
Thickness 2.16 mm
Shape Round
Technique Milled
Orientation Medal alignment ↑↑
Demonetized 30 June 2009
Number N# 12537
References KM# 14, Schön# 63

Wikipedia:
The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a large sub-Saharan African bovine. Syncerus caffer caffer, the Cape buffalo, is the typical subspecies, and the largest one, found in Southern and East Africa.

The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield across the top of the head referred to as a "boss". It is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous animals on the African continent, and according to some estimates, it gores, tramples, and kills over 200 people every year.

The African buffalo is not an ancestor of domestic cattle and is only distantly related to other larger bovines. Its unpredictable temperament may have been part of the reason that the African buffalo has never been domesticated, unlike its Asian counterpart, the water buffalo. Adult African buffaloes have few non-human predators aside from lions and large crocodiles. As a member of the big five game, the Cape buffalo is a sought-after trophy in hunting.

Social behavior
Herd size is highly variable. The core of the herds is made up of related females, and their offspring, in an almost linear dominance hierarchy. The basic herds are surrounded by subherds of subordinate males, high-ranking males and females, and old or invalid animals.

African buffaloes engage in several types of group behavior. Females appear to exhibit a sort of "voting behavior". During resting time, the females stand up, shuffle around, and sit back down again. They sit in the direction they think they should move. After an hour of more shuffling, the females travel in the direction they decide. This decision is communal and not based on hierarchy or dominance.

When chased by predators, a herd sticks close together and makes it hard for the predators to pick off one member. Calves are gathered in the middle. A buffalo herd responds to the distress call of a threatened member and tries to rescue it. A calf's distress call gets the attention of not only the mother, but also the herd. Buffaloes engage in mobbing behavior when fighting off predators. They have been recorded killing lions[26] and chasing lions up trees and keeping them there for two hours, after the lions have killed a member of their group. Lion cubs can get trampled and killed. In one videotaped instance, known as the Battle at Kruger, a calf survived an attack by both lions and a crocodile after intervention of the herd.

Males have a linear dominance hierarchy based on age and size. Since a buffalo is safer when a herd is larger, dominant bulls may rely on subordinate bulls and sometimes tolerate their copulation. The young males keep their distance from the dominant bull, which is recognizable by the thickness of his horns.

Adult bulls spar in play, dominance interactions, or actual fights. A bull approaches another, lowing, with his horns down, and waits for the other bull to do the same thing. When sparring, the bulls twist their horns from side to side. If the sparring is for play, the bull may rub his opponent's face and body during the sparring session. Actual fights are violent but rare and brief. Calves may also spar in play, but adult females rarely spar at all.

During the dry season, males split from the herd and form bachelor groups. Two types of bachelor herds occur: ones made of males aged four to seven years and those of males 12 years or older. During the wet season, the younger bulls rejoin a herd to mate with the females. They stay with them throughout the season to protect the calves.[29] Some older bulls cease to rejoin the herd, as they can no longer compete with the younger, more aggressive males. The old bachelors are called dagga boys ("mud covered"), and are considered the most dangerous to humans.

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Wikipedia:
The stone-carved Zimbabwe Bird is the national emblem of Zimbabwe, appearing on the national flags and coats of arms of both Zimbabwe and Rhodesia, as well as on banknotes and coins (first on the Rhodesian pound and then on the Rhodesian dollar). It probably represents the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle. The bird's design is derived from a number of soapstone sculptures found in the ruins of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe.

It is now the definitive icon of Zimbabwe, with Matenga (2001) listing over 100 organisations which now incorporate the Bird in their logo.

The original carved birds are from the ruined city of Great Zimbabwe, which was built by ancestors of the Shona, starting in the 11th century and inhabited for over 300 years. The ruins, after which modern Zimbabwe was named, cover some 730 hectares (1,800 acres) and are the largest ancient stone construction in sub-Saharan Africa. Among its notable elements are the soapstone bird sculptures, about 40 centimetres (16 inches) tall and standing on columns more than 90 cm (3 ft) tall, which were originally installed on walls and monoliths within the city. They are unique to Great Zimbabwe; nothing like them has been discovered elsewhere.

Various explanations have been advanced to explain the symbolic meaning of the birds. One suggestion is that each bird was erected in turn to represent a new king, but this would have required improbably long reigns. More probably, the Zimbabwe birds represent sacred or totemic animals of the Shona – the bateleur eagle (Shona: chapungu), which was held to be a messenger from Mwari (God) and the ancestors, or the fish eagle (hungwe) which it has been suggested was the original totem of the Shona.

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"In 2003, two new coins were issued: a $10 coin featuring a cape buffalo and a $25 coin featuring Military Monument. These coins were virtually worthless by the time of their release."

...By 2000, the Zimbabwe dollar had dropped to the point that Z$100 was worth just $1USD, whereas just three years prior it was at trading at a 10-1 ratio. The production of the 1 cent and 5 cent coins stopped in 1999. Denominations of 10 cents through $1 saw the copper-nickel coins replaced with nickel-plated steel in 2001 until 2003. The $2 coin was reissued in 2001 in brass-plated steel, and a $5 bi-metallic coin was introduced in 2001 with a black rhino design. All these denominations came to an end in 2003.

Land seizures and election fraud led to the government of Zimbabwe being hit with international sanctions, and the nation lost its Commonwealth Nation status. The United States enacted the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA), which froze credit to the Zimbabwean government. Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe, the corruption between the government and private business was quite visible, with a notable example being the Zimbabwe Banking Corporation having a promotional lottery with a first prize jackpot of Z$100,000, which was won by the nation’s president, Robert Mugabe. By June 2002, the exchange rate was Z$1,000 to $1USD, and by 2003 the country’s economy had collapsed. It is estimated that 11 million people fled the country. It is also believed that three-quarters of the remaining population were living on less than $1USD a day.

In 2003, two new coins were issued: a $10 coin featuring a cape buffalo and a $25 coin featuring Military Monument. These coins were virtually worthless by the time of their release.

By March 2005, the exchange had become Z$10,000 to $1USD. And in July 2006 it was over Z$500,000 to $1USD. A devaluation or redenomination program occurred on August 1, 2006. This would revalue the Zimbabwean dollar to a new Zimbabwean dollar at 1,000 to 1....

Source: https://www.pcgs.com/news/circulation-issue-coinage-of-zimbabwe-from-1980-to-2008