The KrugerandThe Krugerrand was the first gold coin to contain exactly one ounce of gold bullion. The timing of the introduction of the krugerand turned out to be perfect. Americans regained the "right" to own gold bullion on December 31, 1974, and the Republic of South Africa wasted no time in marketing and selling the coins the into the USA. Experts say that more than half of the fifty million kruggerands produced were sold to buyers in the USA Kruggerands are alloyed with a small amount of copper, making them 22-karat gold coins. But Kruggerands are designed to be circulated. Copper has often been used to harden coins, making them hard enough to resist normal scratching and denting. Pure 24 karat coins are relatively soft and easily damaged and require protective packaging, they are not meant to be handled or circulated. As a whole, Krugerrands trade closer to bullion value than other government issued and denominated bullion coins. There have been more of them minted than any other gold bullion coin in the world. Krugerands are made in 1/10, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 ounce denominations, all of them are 91.67% gold fineness. One side of the coin shows the springbok antelope, one of south africas national symbols. One the obverse, the coin shows Paul Kruger, South Africas fifth president and a hero to the boer resistance against the british in the 1890's Boer War The Krugerrand received its first competition from the Canadian Maple Leaf, introduced in 1979. Eventually the Maple Leaf supplanted the Krugerrand as the world's top seller, gaining a significant market share as a one-ounce pure gold coin (.9999 fineness). In 1984 the U.S. Congress banned the import of the Krugerrand as part of the economic sanctions imposed on then apartheid South Africa. The premium dropped to slightly-above the spot gold price and has never completely recovered. The US kruggerand ban lasted until 1995, when South Africa elected Nelson Mandela as its first black president. The US ban was largely a slap on the wrist though, since the USA continued to import a far greater amount of south african gold for jewelery manufacturing purposes. The kruggerand has never regained its previous sales but still remains a perfectly good gold investment for the coin or gold enthusiast. The 2008 set of Krugerand coins were recently introduced for sale by the south african mint. The coins were unveiled in May at a ceremony in Kruger Park, as part of celebrations of the parks 110 years of conservation efforts. Click the Krugerand link to get back to the home page. |
