Krugerrand - The oldest bullion coin

Krugerrand is the oldest bullion coin. South Africa topped world gold production by the late 1960s. The Krugerrand was first minted by the South African Mint on 3rd July 1967, at a time when the price of the noble metal was very high. It deviates from the contemporary design of bullion coins.  At that time, the concept of minting a coin with the weight of an investment unit (say, “one ounce”) was new and innovative. It provided small investors who could not afford to purchase the standard 12.44-kilogram gold ingots, an opportunity to purchase small units of gold.  

The Krugerrand coin was initially referred to as a “Trojan” in reference to one Troy ounce (oz) of gold content. The public was then invited to suggest a new name for the one-ounce coin, and Mr. Maré came up with the name Krugerrand, combining President Paul Kruger, and the name of the newly introduced currency rand(introduced in 1961).

Since 1967, the Krugerrand has been South Africa’s legal tender and serves mostly as a tax-free investment, its price determined on the global market with the price of gold fixed on a daily basis. No one had anticipated the runaway success of the Krugerrand gold bullion coin. More than 50 million pieces have been sold in just five decades

The Krugerrand was the first investment coin on sale in Germany and worldwide. It was going strong till 1986.  In 1986, due to the lasting apartheid policy in South Africa, the European Community and the USA boycotted South African products and imposed an import ban of the Krugerrand. This led to the complete crash of the Krugerrand market. Slowly other coins like Gold Maple Leafs, Chinese Pandas, American Gold Eagles started to emerge.

From 1986-1999, the Krugerrand became a Collector’s item only and lost its bullion market, hence its mintages were reduced to a minimum. In 1999, the import ban was lifted on the Krugerrand and the Krugerrand slowly started regaining its popularity in 2000, however, it could not regain its sole monopoly.

In 2017, Krugerrand turned 50. Sapo (South African Post) issued a set of 3 stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Krugerrand, the oldest bullion coin to be minted.  The 3 stamps depict the development of the Krugerrand in three stages - 1967 (1st minted), 2000(rise after a fall), and 2017 (50th anniversary). The coin designs are relief embossed onto gold foiling.  The stamp depicted the Springbok antelope, which is the heraldic/national animal of South Africa.

Odd World - South Africa

My South African collection of Odd/Unique                                         stamps

Map shaped MS

Circle shaped MS, Can be rotated, drop shaped stamps

Gold Foil  and circular stamp

Odd Shaped Air Plane MS

South African Post issued an Odd shaped miniature sheet, shaped like an air craft for the World Post Day. The stamp depicts the first South African airmail flight - Belriot monoplane. An apt way to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the First Air Mail Flight of Africa (1911 - 2011).

Evelyn Frederick, on 27th December 1911 carried first airmail in his monoplane, Bleriot (named after the French Aviator, Louis Bleriot) from Kenilworth Race Cource to Oldham's field near Muizenberg.  It took seven and a half minutes for him to cover the 13Km distance and Muizenburg Post Office became  the first Post Office to receive the Air Mail in Africa.  Postmaster P J Hutchings received the first Airmail bag with 729 Post Cards.

You can see the picture of the monoplane down below.  

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The stamp is shown below:

                               

12th August: World Elephant Day

African elephants and Asian elephants are two predominant elephant varieties of the world.  Asian elephants are smaller than their cousin African ones and their ears are also smaller in size.  Once there were as many elephants as human beings. But now they are few in numbers.

We human beings have wiped out their habitat and also poach them for their skin, meat and mainly for its ivory tusks.  Elephants tusks are costlier than gold in street markets especially in China and India.

Even though some religions worshiping elephants, these friendly animals are used for pleasure rides, carrying logs and begging on the roads.

To protect these poor creatures 12th August is celebrated as the World Elephant Day. This day was founded in the year 2011 by Canadian film maker, Patricia Sims and Michael Clarke. They named it Elephant Reintroduction Foundation. This day was then first celebrated in the year 2012. Since that day on, World Elephant Day is celebrated annually every year and is now supported by over 65 wild life organizations.

Large Ears are clearly visible in this South African stamp, issued in 1954

 

Two stamp issues by India in 2011

Zambian Stamp circa 1979 titled 'Kasaba Bay' of Lake Tanganyika

Colonial Spanish Stamps - 1950

IUCN and SSC formed a special group for the conversion of Asian Elephants, called the Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG).  It is a global network of specialists concerned with the study, monitoring, management, and conservation of Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) in its 13 Range States across Asia.