Here's a section that will interest both British Commonwealth & gold coin collectors.What are your favourite British Commonwealth (as opposed to British & English) gold coin(s)? Well,my favourite British Commonwealth gold coins are the following; Australia 1865 Sydney Mint 1/2 Sovereign. South Africa 1984 1/10 Krugerrand. South Africa 1990 1/10 Krugerrand. & South African Republic 1895 1 Pond. Aidan.
I like the Australia 1865 Sydney Mint 1/2 Sovereign. I like the hair being tied with the banksia and I find it to be the most attractive of the Victoria faces. Not that she is a babe or anything but at least she looks like a women. I find that there are alot of gold coins where the women look not pretty but pretty manly. The older Victoria coin with ST. George slaying the dragon is nice but doesn't grab me for it is more of a metaphor then history for me. However, I have pondered collecting the British Sovereigns series from 1801 to George V 1914 I have some Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Silver. Not worth very much and not the prettiest of coins in my eyes but I am attracted to the history. As for my favorites I never gave the matter my complete attention but I must say that I am fond of the British Sovereigns of British India with my favorite being the 1854 2 Mohurs Victoria with the Lion and Palm Tree.
Life is not cheap so why should the things that we cherish be? Now if I only had more money at hand I could be better at cherishing
Andy,the Kruger silver coins have very low mintage figures,but it is the 1898 Kruger 1d. that always seems to crop up.I have got the 1892 & 1894 1d.'s,but the 1893 is the rare date. I have also got a contemporary jeweller's copy of the famous Sammy Marks Tickey,which is of the same design as the Kruger 3d. of 1892-7,but dated 1898,& struck only in gold.There were 215 examples of the Sammy Marks Tickey.The difference between it & the jeweller's copy is the jeweller's copy does not have the dots after 'Z.A.R.',even though it is struck of 22 carat fine gold. Aidan.
Have to agree with you here. The ZAR currency is one of my favourites and one of the first sets i managed to complete (silver and copper). The Kruger pond and half pond are two of my favourite gold coins. I have a few dates but I didn't try for a full date run of these. I never heard of the `Sammy Mark's tickey' before now though. Interesting. Must dig out my old South Africa catalogues and see what they say about it. I can dig out my ZAR pennies if you would like a scan of the 1893 (?). I've not looked at them for a while but if i recall right it was in pretty high grade. Memory is a fickle thing however..... Ian
Aidan I just looked and only saw 3 silver Krugs. a 1895 1 shilling, a 1896 2 shilling and a 1897 2 shilling. Thought I had more and I'm feeling like Ian's quote right now. Great post topic by the way. Ian, I would like to see the 1893 penny and any other coin from the set that you wish to share . I was once thinking about completing the set and putting it on the wall with a gold or two and an old map but Boers are oh so politically incorrect over in the states and I have no ties to them but I still might do it for I am attracted to that time and place in history. First I'm going to look up and price an orginal map. Note: I like Krugger but I have to admit that I love Samuel Marks' history. Goes to Africa gets rich, makes friends with everyone, goes back to England at age 40 to find a wife 21 years of age to bring back home and then has nine kids. Nine kids after age 40. Now that's a story.
I'll dig them out later today hopefully. There was a thread recently in the `what's it worth' section concerning ZAR coins you might want to look at. These Boer coins are in big demand right now in South Africa, but the price is fairly flat elsewhere. I put up a pretty high grade 2/6 on ebay two years ago with no reserve and got totally cleaned on it. My fault for assuming that other people would see it as a good opportunity. I'd like to see what you manage to come up with map wise.
This is for Andy: Here's a nice little bunch of gold `Freddies' for you. I've just scanned the obverse as the reverse is the same design as for the reverse on the 1893 penny that follows on after these. The penny itself apart for very light cabinet rub to the patina is actually Unc with some nice irridescent toning to it, which the scan just doesn't pick up. This is one of these rare occasions where the coin is actually better than I had remembered it to be.
Ian and everyone else who is interested: Thanks for the viewing. I just did a quick google search and came up with www.raremaps.com. I saw various maps from 1850 to 1880's of the South African area ranging from around 80 dollars to 300 dollars. Some had nice details. All I believe were in English. I am flying into NYC for a day in two weeks so I might find some time to drop in on a antique map store to see if I could find any maps in Dutch. That is after I drop in on a coin store or two. If not I'll do it over the internet but it is good to know that they are out there. Saw the post from the guy in Germany and the entire collection he got his hands on. I was thinking about contacting him but I usually like to purchase visually or by recommendation.
Some nice stuff for sale there. Useful site which I have bookmarked for reference purposes. Thanks for sharing. Ian
Hey I still owe you for "The king o drinks as I conceive it, Talisker.." recommendation that you and Robert Louis Stevenson gave me.
Do governments publish alloy statistics on coinage? It is clear to me from looking at so many of your gold coins that the metallurgy of gold coins must vary somewhat. Native gold occurs in some very interesting colors due to silver, copper, and basemetal content. I wonder if governments keep such information secret to complicate the lives of would-be counterfitters. Explosives are manufactured with traces of exotic elements to help the authorities trace the origins of stolen explosives. I wonder if they do that with coinage? .
Those are very nice Kruger coins,Ian. Ian,those are very nice Kruger coins,especially the gold.That is also a very nice 1893 Kruger 1d. Aidan.
