An Overview of South Africa ZAR coinage

[World Colonial]

This is a follow-up to the post I wrote for South Africa Union coinage. This post covers the coinage of the Zuid Afrika Republic (ZAR) and the “patterns” of the Orange Free State (OFS).

 

The ZAR and OFS were the two colonies in what is now South Africa founded by Dutch settlers that were later incorporated into the Union of South Africa in 1910 following the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). The first Dutch settlers arrived in what is now Cape Town in 1652 under the leadership of Jan Van Reebek. (If you have ever seen an older circulating South Africa note, his portrait is on it. He is the one that to me looks like William Shakespeare.) After the increase in the British presence in South Africa beginning in the mid-19th century, the Boers in the Cape Province migrated to what later became the Transvaal (where Johannesburg was founded in 1886.) and formed the ZAR in 1852. It then lasted for 50 years until British annexation.

 

The popularity of ZAR coinage seems to have taken off following the end of Apartheid and especially around the 100th anniversary of the Boer War. Even outside of South Africa, there are a few public figures from this period that are somewhat known. These include:

 

Paul Kruger, President of the ZAR during the Boer War and whose image appears on the KrugerRand today.

 

Cecil Rhodes, Gold and Diamond magnate (DeBeers), founder of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Rhodesia & Nyasaland (now Malawi), a governor of the Cape colony in the 1890’s and founder of the Rhodes Trust (Rhodes Scholarships)

 

Lord Alfred Milner, Governor of the Cape Colony and later High Commissioner of South Africa, from 1897-1905. He was later the informal leader of a British group known as Milner’s Kindergarten or the Rhodes-Milner Round Table Group which was purportedly a driving force behind the creation of the British Commonwealth.

 

Colonel Baden Powell, who served in the Boer War under Kitchner and Roberts, and later founded the Boy Scouts.

 

Today, ZAR coinage is collected widely around the world though the number of collectors I would rate as still limited. But relative to coins from other countries and to some extent even what I would describe as comparable US coins in some instances, the prices are strong.

 

As with Union coinage, collectors of this series show (in my opinion) a strong preference for certified issues. That is one of the reasons the census populations are as large as they are. And these populations have increased a lot in the last four years. Today, I would rate most of the business strikes as available in circulated grades and the more common dates also available in higher grades.

 

Until recently, the price spread between raw and graded coins was very large. Recently, it seems to have shrunk but I believe this to be more of a function of a decrease in certified coin prices which I further attribute to the decline in the RAND-USD exchange rate. Another factor for this phenomenon might be that those collectors and dealers who have not recognized this trend have either overpaid or attempted to sell their coins at the old prices unsuccessfully. This seems to be true for the more common but not the scarcer issues.

 

The monetary system was based upon the British system of the time and consisted of 9 denominations: a bronze Penny (1D); silver three pence (3D or tickey), six pence (6D), shilling (1/), two shillings or florin (2/), 2 ½ shillings or half crown (2/6), and crown (5/); and finally a gold ½ pound and pound. Not all denominations were issued annually as I will explain later.

 

In this overview as with Union, I am going to divide it into multiple sections: “patterns”, ZAR bronze, ZAR silver and ZAR gold.

 

Patterns: There are many “patterns” from this period, struck primarily in 1874 and the 1890’s. I put the word in quotes because I am not aware that any of these were intended to serve as a prototype for a future circulating issue, similar to the British issues of this period.

 

1898 “Single 9” ZAR Pond: I list this unique coin separately because it is the unquestionable King of all South African coins. According to the South African Coin Company website, this coin is worth 38 million Rand (about $3.5MM USD), a figure I find rather dubious. Nevertheless, it would definitely be the centerpiece of any or most any auction if it were ever sold publicly.

 

ZAR Patterns: The 1898 “Single 9” Pond is one of these coins but the others I would rate next in terms of collector desirability. The other coins are also listed as unique or nearly so except the 1898 Sammy Marks 3D struck in gold which has a mintage of 215. Approximately 30 or so are believed to exist (many impaired) and it is in my opinion rather expensive compared to comparably rare or even scarcer South African coins, probably because it is really the only issue from this group that is available. Some of these coins are attributed to the Baldwin collection by the Hern catalogue and I might have seen the 1892 copper half crown in one of their prior sales.

 

1874 Thomas Francois Burgess: Burgess was the president of the ZAR in 1874 when these coins were issued. These consist of various 2/6, crowns and ponds in various metals. I have seen a handful of these for sale, with all except for one corroded. All are rare or very rare.

 

OFS Kroon: I’m not sure what the purpose of these coins was but they were crowns issued in 1887. I believe I have seen two for sale for the four different issues.

 

Other ZAR and OFS issues: Finally, there are also various penny and two pence coins issued by both the ZAR and OFS. There are many different varieties of these coins and they are similar in scarcity to the penny coins I discussed in my Union overview for Griquatown and Cape of Good Hope. Most are moderately scarce and are the only issues from this entire group which come up for sale with any frequency.

 

1892 ZAR Proof Set: This set consists of all nine denominations. The reported mintages for this set range from 20 on the low end to up to 50-60.

 

Though it is more common than several of the Union sets, as the only ZAR proofs, it is in high demand and all of these coins deservedly bring strong prices. The availability of the penny, ½ pond and pond seem to be less than the reported mintage of 20 and I have only seen two full sets up for sale (one reportedly later communicated to me with a few business strikes). The others except for the crown come up for sale fairly frequently.

 

ZAR bronze: The only bronze denomination is the Penny issued from 1892-1894 and 1898. The 1892 and 1898 pennies are the most common ZAR issues along with the 1898 pond. The 1894 is moderately scarce in uncirculated (common compared to most Union KGV coins) and the 1893 is the scarcest.

 

Of these, only the 1892 and 1898 have any census issues listed in Red. The 1898 must have had a decent sized hoard discovered recently because the population went from a handful to 162 overnight. The NGC census lists five 1892 red specimens (11 including PCGS including an MS-66 I held in hand at the 2007 May Long Beach show) and three RB PL specimens (including my MS-64). The strike on the 1892 is typically good with full hair detail while the 1898 is weak. The 1893 and 1894 are in between in my experience though I have owned fewer of them (none of the 1893).

 

ZAR silver: These issues range from common to scarce for some dates in any decent grade and rare for a few as conditional rarities.

 

In my experience, the scarcest coins are the 1893 1/, 2/ and 2/6 plus the 1895 2/. These coins are not common in any grade, are scarce in problem free mid circulated grades and rare in high grade (AU or mint state).

 

Also reasonably scarce are the 1894 silver, other 1895 and the 1896 1/. The 1895 2/6 is considered a highly desirable coin and is scarce in grades above VF. The 1896 I’m not sure is as widely recognized for being a scarce coin (maybe it is) but I have seen few of them above VF and it is a rare coin in or near mint state.

 

The 1892 issues are among the most popular if not the most popular because every advanced or long time collector of this series appears to be trying to complete this set. Aside from being the first year of issue, it is also probably due to the fact that it is the only date that contains all nine denominations. As a result, the price between these dates and the others is not reflective of their relative rarity. The 2/6 with a mintage of 16,000 (many ZAR were later melted for use as Union coinage) seems to be the scarcest. The 1892 single shaft and double shaft crowns have the lowest mintages of the silver, but even with a original mintage of 4327, the double shaft crown still has an NGC census of over 100, including 34 in mint state and 39 in AU. That is not a particularly scarce coin by my standards,

 

On the others, all of the 1897 denominations and the 1896 except for the 1/ are common by my standards, even in better grades. This is based upon the census populations though the availability is not commensurate with them and they are still mostly scarce in decent mint state grades (MS-63 or better).

 

ZAR gold: I do not have as much to say about these because I have never actively collected them and have paid less attention to them.

 

The four scarcest issues are the 1874 Burgess pond, 1898 “99” pond, the 1902 Veld pond and the 1893 ½ pond.

 

The 1874 Burgess pond comes in two varieties, a “fine” beard with a mintage of 695 and a “course” beard with a mintage of 142. Both are in strong demand and hard to obtain. Most of the specimens I have seen are either ex-jewelry or otherwise mishandled. I have seen one or two decent specimens of the fine beard at auction but none of the other, I did see a mint state issue in 1999 at the British Museum but I do not recall which variety it is.

 

The 1898 “99” ponds were minted in conjunction with the 1898 “single 9” pattern. After the latter coin was produced, the mint officials decided that the spacing was not adequate and issued 130 more of the other issue. This coin is very infrequently available and also highly sought after by collectors.

 

The 1902 veld pond is probably the second most famous South Africa coin. It was issued toward the end of the Boer War under adverse circumstances and is prized by all collectors of this series. Though the mintage is either 530 or 986 (depending upon what source you believe), there are over 100 specimens in the NGC census with all but 11 in AU or better. Probably there are some or many duplicates but it seems to be about as scarce as the 1852 Australia Adelaide pound, another coin that I really like but which does not seem to that hard to find based upon its price.

 

The 1893 ½ pond is the only one of these four that was really issued for general circulation and it is a really scarce coin with an NGC census population of 17 and no specimen better than AU-50.

 

On the others, all of them are available or appear to be based upon my recollection but except for the 1892 and 1898 ponds, they are elusive in mint state. The 1898 pond has a census of over 700 including almost 300 in mint state. It is the only gold ZAR coin that comes up for sale regularly in mint state (It can be found in practically any major auction which has any decent selection of ZAR) and probably is purchased by many collectors as a high grade type coin. In my opinion, it’s not a particularly cheap coin given its scarcity.

 

Relative rarity of ZAR versus Union coinage: Most of the ZAR issues on average appear to be far more available than the Union coins in comparable grade based upon my experience. Partly this is because they are far more popular and the prices reflect that. But even since the better and scarcer Union coins have increased in price recently, the census populations have increased somewhat for the more common dates but not very much for the scarce and rare dates.

 

Contrary to most South African coin collectors, I personally prefer the Union coins and especially the KGV. I do not have space to go into a detailed analysis here, but I consider them both a much better value and a greater challenge from a collectible standpoint. However, I do not expect their future prices to reflect my preference since I do not expect the Union coinage to overtake ZAR in popularity. I expect both to increase somewhat but for ZAR to maintain its advantage particularly with international collectors,

 

[DC Dawg]

Like your other post, here is the URL:

 

"h t t p: / / t i n y u r l . c o m/ZARcoinage" just remember to remove the spaces.

 

BTW: This is all very fascinating!!! I learned a lot from both of your posts. (thumbs u

 

Maybe I can copy it and post it on my blog under your name (or nom de plume) with your permission, of course. That would give you a permanent URL!

 

Scott

[World Colonial]

Thanks for the compliments. I have no problem with that. Please do so at your convenience.

[TJ'S Coins]

Great article. I have professional relationships within South Africa and enjoy learning all that I can about this fascinating corner of the world. Your article helps tremendously in understanding the ZAR and OFS era regarding coinage.

[physics-fan3.14]

Thanks for doing this. Very interesting.

[World Colonial]

Here is one of the coins from my collection. Its a common coin in most grades but this is an uncommon example. It is one of three PL is the combined NGC and PCGS census.