NICE 1898 South Africa ZAR Gold Kruger Pond - $245 Gold

A Nice FINE to VERY FINE quality 1898 Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek Gold Kruger Pond.  This coin has a very nice reddish, mahogany patina with few to any bagmarks on it.  Great eye appeal!  

The ZAR encompassed a region known as the Transvaal. Dissatisfied with British rule of the Cape Colony, the Boers (Dutch Afrikaaners) embarked on what became known as the Great Trek of 1835-43, re-establishing themselves in the interior of the country.  There they created the ZAR in 1852 and the Orange Free State in 1854.  This migration is commemorated with the image of a Voortrekker wagon, which appears on many South African coins including the one-pound and half-pound pieces of 1892-1900.

The economy of the ZAR was primarily agricultural until the discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold during the 1880s prompted a flood of prospectors and speculative investment.  Despite a series of boom and bust cycles, the general trend was toward increasing prosperity.  So much wealth required a central banking system, and De Nationale Bank der Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek was opened by the Republic’s President Paul Kruger in 1891.  The bank prospered, and the passage of a Mint Act that same year provided for a coinage of gold, silver and bronze modeled after that of Great Britain.  The State Mint and National Bank shared a structure on Church Square in Pretoria.

Included in the new coinage were two gold pieces.  The one-pound and half-pound coins were similar in values and specifications to the English sovereign and half sovereign, respectively.  Because the ZAR did not have a monarch, these particular titles were not used.  Instead, the coins were referred to by their value alone, and they possessed unlimited legal tender status within the ZAR.  Though this status was not recognized elsewhere, the intrinsic value of these coins permitted them to circulate freely in other parts of South Africa.

President Kruger’s portrait appeared on each coin’s obverse, with the country’s name in Afrikaans   inscribed in an arc around the periphery.  The reverse of the pound and half pound coins displayed the arms of the ZAR, with the coin’s value and the date of coinage arranged in an arc above.  The Dutch motto Eeedragt Maakt Magt (Union makes strength) is incorporated into the arms.

                                       
$16 Registered / Fully Insured Worldwide.