South African Krugerrands Gold Coins

22-Karat Gold Bullion Coins

The South African Krugerrand is the original one troy ounce gold bullion coin made by a government and valued on the content of its gold, rather than the face value of the coin. The concept of a one ounce gold coin tied to spot gold's fluctuations quickly caught on. Nearly 50 million have been minted since 1967. The Krugerrand is an alloyed coin at 22 karats, or .9167 purity. Denominated as one ounce of gold, it is struck with no face value indicated on the coin. Quite often contemporary investors purchasing Krugerrands are surprised to discover the coin they purchased bears a date other than the current year. This is testimony to the coin's duration as a market item and the strong secondary market it enjoys. Featured on the coin's reverse is the springbok, a natural inhabitant of the dry savannahs able to run at speeds up to 80 km/hr and jump over 10 meters. The springbok is the icon of the national rugby team.

The Krugerrand was the first legal tender gold bullion coin to gain worldwide use in the modern era. To this day, many gold owners equate gold ownership with Krugerrand ownership. The Krugerrand as a bullion item received its first competition from the Canadian Maple Leaf, introduced in 1979. Eventually the Krugerrand was supplanted as the world's top seller -- in 1984 the U.S. Congress banned the import of the Krugerrand as part of the economic sanctions imposed on South Africa. The premium dropped to slightly-above the spot gold price and has only recently recovered in concert with the latest bull market rally in gold.