Soaring success of Krugerrand
The coin’s five decades of ups and downs mirror the turbulence in SA, as well as a global demand for safe havens
Ask gold fans anywhere in the world what gold coin springs first to mind and odds are they’ll pick the Krugerrand. The Krugerrand, containing one ounce of gold, is an iconic symbol of SA — and this year it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Rather more crucially, it has been a pretty sharp investment. In 1967, a Krugerrand would have cost you R25; today, it costs R16,290 — a compound growth rate of just on 14%/year. It seems unimaginable now, but back in 1967 when the Chamber of Mines, SA Reserve Bank and Rand Refinery joined forces to launch the Krugerrand, nothing like it existed. "The concept of a legal-tender, central bank-issued gold coin with no face value was revolutionary in 1967," says Hilton Davies, MD of SA Bullion Management. "To me, the Krugerrand ranks near the top of the list of great SA inventions." Today, the Krugerrand has competitors. The two biggest are the American Gold Eagle and Canadian Gold Maple Leaf. Others are China’s Panda, Australia’s Kangaroo, Austria’s P...
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