The 1986 cent opened the coinage of Mswati III. The king was crowned on 25 April 1986, six days after his eighteenth birthday, and that same year Swaziland introduced a new round copper-plated steel cent in place of the old twelve-sided bronze one.

The reverse design was kept, a pineapple plant with its fruit between value and date, while the obverse received the first, facing portrait of the young king. The coin was struck by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant.

This cent has a frozen date: of the total mintage of 12,000,000, some 11,700,000 were struck in 1990, yet all bear the year 1986. The Krause catalogue lists this steel-core cent as KM# 39, and a non-magnetic bronze variety is known as KM# 39a.

In VF grade wear on the high points is visible, but the main details and legends are sharp. The coin fills the first year of Mswati III's reign in a collection.

A themed selection that includes this coin is easy to expand with other items from the VPcoins catalogue.