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| Kingdom of Zamunda |
| An imaginary African kingdom central to the plot of the Paramount Pictures film "Coming to America" in 1988 is a romantic comedy film directed by John Landis, starring Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem, heir to the throne of Zamunda. | |
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The country is ruled by King
Jaffe Joffer (played by James Earl Jones), and is home to the Prince's royal
servant, Semmi (Arsenio Hall). Faced with the prospect of an arranged
marriage to a woman he has never met, Akeem pleads with his father, the King
(James Earl Jones), to be allowed to go to the America to find a bride of
his own choosing. His father misunderstands him and believes that the Prince
wishes to "sow his royal oats" before settling down with his arranged bride.
The prince and his royal servant set off to New York City, New York, and
Akeem picks the area of "Queens" as the best place to look for potential
brides.
Akeem and Semmi
pretend to be African exchange students so that people will
not treat them differently for their royalty. Eventually
Akeem meets a girl he wants to marry, who happens to be the
daughter (Shari Headley) of the owner (John Amos) of
McDowell's fast food restaurant where he and Semmi are
employed. It takes a while to win her affection, but
eventually he does, and they fall in love. After she finds
out who Akeem really is, she is at first upset that he lied.
In the end, love prevails and the two are married in a royal
African ceremony. Eddie Murphy is also the story writer of
this movie.
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| Paramount contracted with the Continental Coin Corporation to produce these coins for promotion of the 1988 film. The copper-nickel pieces were given out at the California premier, while the gold-plated examples was struck for use as a prop in the movie. A 100 pound note of the Bank of Zamunda, also bearing the image of Prince Akeem, was produced as a prop for use in the movie | |
| In the movie "Coming to America", a gold-plated piece is used as a prop. Akeem decides to travel to the United States in order to find a woman who will love him for who he is, not because of his wealth and social status. When he informs his best friend and aide, Semmi (Arsenio Hall), about this plan, Semmi asks where in the United States they should go, specifically mentioning Los Angeles and New York City. "The land is so big, the choices so infinite. Where shall we go? Los Angeles or New York?" Akeem pulls out a coin and flips it, designating New York as "heads" and Los Angeles as "tails". "We'll let fate decide. Heads, New York. Tails, Los Angeles." The camera zooms in on the coin, which is briefly shown with the "heads" side up. "We go to New York." | |
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| This coin has been produced in Copper-Nickel, Brass plated Copper-Nickel, Gold plated and Gold. It is well known that the one and only gold coin was struck as a presentation gift for Eddie Murphy. A profile bust of Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy), the prince and heir apparent of Zamunda, appears in the center of the obverse. In the image, Akeem is shown facing left, wearing a crown on his head, a necklace around his nape, and a suit and tie on his upper torso. Printed in a counterclockwise direction below, along the coin's rim, is the caption "AKEEM". It is accompanied by the state title "ZAMUNDA", which is inscribed in the opposite direction at the piece's upper boundary, above Akeem's likeness. Featured in the center of the reverse is the emblem of Zamunda, which consists of a lion rampant holding a circular flaming object, possibly the sun. "ZAMUNDA" is printed next to the emblem, extending clockwise along the reverse's upper left periphery. It is followed by the face value, "FIVE POUNDS", which is engraved in the same direction at the upper right rim. The Gregorian date of minting, "1988", appears at the bottom of the piece in smaller print, arched counterclockwise along the piece's bottom periphery. | |
| I purchased my 5 Pound Brass plated Copper-Nickel 23.6 grams and Copper-Nickel 26.7 grams coins from Oded Paz. | |
| Movie / Game Coins | |
| Chiefa Coins | |
