1 Krugerrand

Country South Africa
Denomination 1 krugerrand
Year 1974
Subject Krugerrand
Period Republic of South Africa (1961 - 2023)
Coin type Collector coins
Composition Gold 0.917
Edge type Reeded
Shape Round
Alignment Medal (0°)
Weight (gr) 33.93
Diameter (mm) 32.77
Thickness (mm) 2.85

Description

The Gold Krugerrand is a South African coin first minted in 1957 with the primary purpose of bringing effective support to the South African gold market. The gold Krugerrand is, still today, a currency with legal tender in South Africa although the original idea was not that of a real currency but rather of a coined bar (bullion).
The South African gold Krugerrand takes its name from Paul Kruger, a politician of the late nineteenth century who was president of the Transvaal Republic from 1883 to 1902 and who played a very important role in the history of South African independence. Paul Kruger's profile is impressed on the obverse by O. Schultzla. On the reverse, however, there is the date of issue, the fine gold content and the image of a gazelle (springbok), one of the national symbols of South Africa created by C. L. Steynberg.
The state name "Suid-Afrika/South Africa" in Afrikaans and English is also reported along with the face value. This coin was first minted in 1967 and so far more than 55 million pieces have been placed on the market. The Gold Krugerrand was the first bullion coin to be traded at the value of its actual gold content. Which, for example, did not happen with the Gold Sovereign (gold pound), whose nominal value could even significantly differ from the value of the gold contained. The gold Krugerrand was conceived as the first coin to contain an ounce of pure gold, thus constituting a valid instrument for the legal possession of gold by private individuals so as to become one of the best known and sought-after coins in the world for its value and for its particularity. Specifically, since the gold Krugerrand was a legal means of payment, it gave US citizens the possibility to possess gold legally despite US law at the time forbidding the possession of gold in bullion. Being a coin specially minted to be exchanged abroad, the Krugerrand does not carry the value of the corresponding currency: the RAND.