South Africa 1955 1/2 pound
This specimen was part of lot 23233 in Stack's Bowers ANA Auction (Denver, CO, August 2017), where it sold for $540.50. The catalog description[1] noted, "SOUTH AFRICA. 1/2 Pound & Pound, 1955. NGC PROOF-65. KM-53 & 54; Fr-9 & 10. 2 pieces in lot. Each with a mintage of only 900 pieces. Both sharply struck as would be expected and fully lustrous with hard flashy proof surfaces. Both quite attractive." This gold half pound was struck 1953-60 altho most years were struck only in proof. In 1960, South Africa withdrew from the British Commonwealth and in 1961 issued all new coins, dropping the bust of the queen for explorer Jan van Riebeeck.
Recorded mintage: 900 proofs.
Specification: 3.99 g, 0.917 fine gold.
Catalog reference: KM-53, Fr-10.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th 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.
- 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.
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, Kyle Ponterio and Chris Chatigny, The August 2017 Denver ANA Auction: Ancients, Selections from The Richard Stuart Collection & World Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2017.
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