South African Gold Krugerrand: A Gilded History
Coins Of The Sun
Gold doubloons, ducats, reals, talents, guineas and sovereigns: These are some of the sun coins that humanity has mined, minted, used as coin of the realm, killed for and died for. This gleaming metal has held the eye and inspired the avarice of legions of cultures since ancient Sumer and Egypt. The Romans minted hundreds of millions of gold coins that were imprinted with the profiles of numerous emperors of the sun. The gold coin has been glorified as a microcosm of the limitless energy of the sun, and gold coins were the preeminent means of exchange until the worthless, fiat, greenback paper money of the twentieth century created artificial inflation at the touch of a printing press. William Jennings Bryant made his stirring speech concerning Americans being crucified on a cross of gold, and the gold-backed currency that the Constitution demanded soon vanished with the setting sun of monetary stability.
The Sun Coin Also Rises
In the late nineteenth century, when the sun never set on the British empire, South Africa was mining massive amounts of gold. This was toward the end of Le Belle Epoque, the beautiful era, and the demand for gold jewelry was extremely high among the aristocracy. The Witwatersrand area became the largest gold mine in the world.
The huge South African gold reserves led to the conflicts between the Dutch Boers and the British. The Dutch gained their independence in the first Boar War, in which they were led by Paul Kruger, who became the president of the South African Republic. A decade later, after incurring huge loses, the British defeated the Dutch in the second Boer War, which saw the first usage of the modern concentration camp, in which a hundred thousand Dutch women and children were herded into horrid conditions. Twenty five thousand died in these camps. This war, which was over control of the country’s gold, was undoubtedly fomented by Cecil Rhodes, who already controlled the diamond mining industry and who came to control the gold cartel after the war. The Boars were not totally defeated since they received some concessions after the war. Sixty five years after the end of this fool’s gold war, the Krugerrand gold coin was minted. Paul Kruger, the Boer leader, lent his name and likeness to the Krugerrand.
The Law Of Gold
In the early nineteen thirties, it can be seen that both the United States and Germany adhered to the Golden Rule: Those who control the gold make the rules. It became illegal to own gold in these two countries. Gold and gold backed currency had to be turned in to the government.
In 1967 the South African government got around this golden rule by creating this gold Krugerrand as a circulating coin. It was legal tender and could be owned by the freedom loving citizens of the United States. However, most Western countries had sanctions against South Africa due the apartheid practices of this country. These sanctions were terminated when South Africa terminated its apartheid policy in 1994. In the nineteen eighties the Krugerrand represented ninety percent of the gold coin market.
The Krugerrand coin spans 32.6 mm in diameter and is 2.74 mm thick. At 91.67 percent purity, it contains one troy once of gold. While other gold coins have entered the lucrative gold coin market, the Krugerrand continues as the most successful.
Reflections In A Golden Coin
The Krugerrand is a gilded reflection of the millennial wars over the wealth of the world, which has come to be symbolized in this metal of the sun called gold. Ironically, Paul Kruger may have been immensely disturbed to be featured on a gold coin. His ultimate desire was only to have an independent state for the farming Dutch Boers; to be free of British rule. However, the Boer wars ended with the conversion of the Boer republics into an outpost of the British empire, so it is quite paradoxical that the Krugerrand should bear the name and likeness of Paul Kruger.
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