The iconic mountain has been chosen as the centrepiece of the latest UNESCO World Heritage Series coin from France’s Monnaie de Paris, with the design also paying tribute to the extraordinary plant life of the Cape Floral Region, as News24 reported.
French engraver Joaquín Jimenez, the Monnaie de Paris’ Chief Engraver and Director of Artistic Creation, was tasked with turning one of Cape Town’s most recognisable landscapes into a piece of engraved metal. The result brings together the sheer scale of Table Mountain with the intricate world of fynbos surrounding it.
Rather than relying on colour to create depth, Jimenez uses the physical relief of the coin itself. Raised and recessed sections of metal give the mountain, vegetation and landscape different textures, allowing light to reveal details as the coin is moved.
At the front of the composition is the King Protea, one of South Africa’s most recognisable flowers. The botanical detail provides a sharp contrast to the solid form of Table Mountain behind it, placing the Cape’s plant life almost on equal footing with the landscape that has become synonymous with the city. The choice is particularly fitting given the extraordinary biodiversity of the Cape Floral Region. UNESCO added the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas to its World Heritage List in 2004, recognising the area for its exceptional plant diversity and the ecological processes that have shaped the fynbos biome.
SANParks describes the Cape Floral Region as the smallest of the world’s six floral kingdoms, yet one of the richest. It contains around 8,200 plant species, with roughly 80% classified as fynbos, while many species are found nowhere else on Earth.
That biodiversity is an important part of what Jimenez wanted the coin to capture. The design was developed from Paris using research into the Cape’s geology and botany, despite the engraver not having visited South Africa while working on the composition. For Jimenez, the challenge was not simply to produce a recognisable image of Table Mountain. The intention was to create something that could make people stop and look, while conveying the feeling of standing on the edge of the African continent and taking in the landscape.
There is also a more personal Cape Town experience still waiting for the engraver. Jimenez has said that when he eventually visits the city, he wants to see the famous ‘Tablecloth‘ cloud settle across the mountain and experience the scent of wild fynbos for himself.
The finished coin is therefore being positioned as more than a collector’s item. Its designers see it as a miniature reminder of a landscape whose value extends far beyond its famous skyline.
The Monnaie de Paris has listed several versions of the 2026 Table Mountain release, including a €10 silver proof coin and gold editions with face values of €250, €500 and €1,000. The €250 gold version has a limited mintage of 150 pieces and is scheduled to become available on 20 October 2026. In the end, the coin reduces one of Cape Town’s biggest natural landmarks to just millimetres of metal, but its subject remains much larger than the object itself.
Table Mountain, the King Protea and the fynbos together tell the story of a place where geology, biodiversity and Cape Town’s identity meet, a landscape now being carried far beyond South Africa through one of the world’s oldest mints.
WHAT: UNESCO World Heritage Series
WHERE: Table Mountain
WHEN: available on 20 October 2026
INFO: Monnaie de Paris VISIT | cape{town}etc VISIT | See also MapMyWay
PHOTO: King Protea (c) Arne Purves
