South Africa 1896 1/2 pond
This specimen was lot 73294 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, May 2023), where it sold for $600. The catalog description[1] noted, "SOUTH AFRICA. 1/2 Pond, 1896. Pretoria Mint. NGC AU-58. A lovely honey-gold and orange-apricot example of this more available date for the type. Plenty of brazen, fresh luster remains, the design elements boldly rendered and the surfaces pleasingly smooth for the assigned grade. Teetering on the cusp of Mint State, buyers who seek exceptional eye appeal will snap this beauty up." South Africa, after a turbulent history between English and Dutch settlers and the native population, was constituted the Union of South Africa in 1910. This coin was issued 1893-97 by the Afrikaner republic before its conquest by the British. With the collapse of apartheid, collecting South African coins is now respectable again.
Recorded mintage: 104,000, a common date.
Specification: 3.99 g, 0.917 fine gold, .117 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Fr-3; KM-9.2; Hern-Z42.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Hern, Brian, John Bothma and Hercie Pieterse, Hern's Handbook on South African Coins & Patterns, Ferndale, South Africa, 2013.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, February 2023 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, featuring the David Sterling Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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