In early May 1990, Nelson Mandela—winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, former South African president, and hero to millions—was present in his house in Johannesburg in South Africa. After the evening a team of technicians trained by Max Warren Barber at Scotia International of Nevada Inc — SION Trading Fze were already invited to supervise the process of gold casting of his hand to create high-quality pieces of Gold-Cast hands.
At the dinner table Nelson Mandela laid his right hand, palm side down, into a lump of cold dental putty. The silicon-based putty had been chilled to make it harden more slowly, because of this the material got into every wrinkle and crease, almost perfectly capturing Mandela’s fingerprints as well as the old scars from his hard labour on Robben Island. Then they poured more on top to encase his knuckles and fingernails.
Mandela’s fingerprint.Source: Malcolm Duncan
The inspiration
Nelson Mandela, also known as Madiba, the great South African and world leader, was many things to those who knew or came to learn of him, but even more for those who care about the things he was so passionate about. He will be remembered for his struggle and leadership for freedom, equality, truth, love, peace and justice. He inspired many of us through his life, struggle, words and deeds, as he walked the walk as well as talking the talk, unlike many compatriots who manipulate similar ideals for self-aggrandisement.Nelson Mandela changed the world with his own two hands. So for many it would be an attraction to make the hands the centrepiece of a collection of Mandela memorabilia, both for personal inspiration and to show to friends and family. So it’s only fitting that replicas of his powerful palms would sell for millions, especially when crafted from solid gold.
Mandela sitting for the casting.Source: Malcolm Duncan
The Purpose
The technicians would use these moulds to create resin replicas, for the casting of Mandela’s hand in 99.999% pure gold. Max Warren Barber, says with this prototype authorities plan to create at least 27 gold hands, weighing 5.7 pounds to 8.8 pounds each, to mark the years of his imprisonment, followed by silver versions for each month, and finally thousands of bronze copies to mark each day. They would be sold to raise money for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, the charity to which he devoted much of his time in retirement—and serve as advertisements for technicians casting expertise in the process. As president Nelson Mandela donated half his salary to poor children and when he got the Nobel Peace Prize he gave part of the prize money to help street children.
THE 1993 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
In 1999, he was included in TIME magazine’s list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela’s birthday, 18 July, as “Mandela Day”. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela is widely considered both “the father of the nation” and “the founding father of democracy”. Outside SA, he remains a “global icon” and “a modern democratic hero”.
Mandela received more than 260 honours in his lifetime including the Soviet Union’s Lenin Peace Prize (1990); António Agostinho Neto Order (1990), the highest honour of the People’s Republic of Angola; Bharat Ratna (1990), India’s highest civilian award; National Order of Mali (Grande Croix, 1996), Mali’s highest decoration; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2002), the United States’ highest civilian award. In 1993, Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa”.
Why Is Nelson Mandela Famous?
A figurehead of modern democracy and equality, Nelson Mandela is recognized globally for his work in furthering human rights. In June of 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement against the South African apartheid regime. He would not be freed until 1990. Upon his release, Mandela quickly rose to political prominence for his role fighting against apartheid and for becoming South Africa’s first black president. In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize honoring his “work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.” Following is the highlight of his life journey.
- Nelson Mandela was the president of South Africa from 1994-1999. He was the first black president of South Africa, and the first president to be elected in a fully representative election.
- Nelson Mandela’s government focused on destroying the Apartheid government in the country, which had focused on racial segregation enforced by the law
- In school, Mandela studied law and became one of South Africa’s first black lawyers.
- In the 1950s, he was elected leader of the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC) liberation movement.
- When the government prohibited the ANC for racial reasons, Mandela organised a secret military movement. He had previously been involved in peaceful protests but when they were met with violence from the government he went on to support an armed movement
- Mandela was imprisoned from 1962-1990 for treason and conspiracy against the government. He was sentenced to life in prison, but was released early when the ANC became legal again.
- While he was in prison, Mandela was a symbol to rally behind for the oppressed in South Africa who were fighting for rights.
- Mandela is considered the father of Modern South Africa. He was instrumental in tearing down the oppressive government and installing democracy
- Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for peacefully destroying the Apartheid regime and laying the foundation for democracy. In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, he won over 250 other awards
- After retirement from politics, Mandela started the Nelson Mandela Foundation that focused on combating HIV/AIDS and supported rural development and school construction.
- In 2009, the United Nations proclaimed Mandela’s birthday (July 18th) to be Nelson Mandela International Day. The holiday asks people to spend 67 minutes doing something good for others, which represents the 67 years he spent working toward change