The large five shilling piece minted in 1953 and by now a collector's item has a Springbok on one side and Queen Elizabeth on the other, a good ``head and tails piece'' Reid, a former New Zealand all-rounder chuckled yesterday.
Highly successful as Northerns coach in the 1980s and later Transvaal (now Gauteng) and ICC match referee for the test series between South Africa and Pakistan, Reid has used the coin since he was appointed to the referees panel five years ago.
``One of the problems you have with coins is that so few captains these days can distinguish between heads and tails,'' the stocky Kiwi said at Kingsmead where he oversaw the toss in the second match of the series.
It is an interesting observation as most modern coins no longer have the recognised heads and tails distinctions which make them harder to use by captains when tossing for innings at test of ODI level. A local numismatist has valued Reid's South African silver keepsake at R1,200.