By CoinWeek…
The discovery of vast diamond deposits transformed the region that would become South Africa in the 1870s, causing a huge wave of migration, with people arriving from Europe and other parts of the African continent. This led to a rapid development of industry and infrastructure and a need for an indigenous currency. In the early 1870s, the only official currency circulating in the South African Republic (ZAR) was the British pound.
While large-scale gold production did not come about until the discovery of gold deposits in the Transvaal region in 1886, the small amounts of gold being produced at artisanal mines afforded President Thomas François Burgers the opportunity to create a local currency, at least on a small scale.
In 1874, he sent 300 ounces of locally mined gold to Heaton’s Mint in Birmingham, England, with instructions to strike coins to the same size and value as the English sovereign. He also provided a portrait of himself and a sketch of the ZAR’s coat of arms for the design. He did so without first getting buy-in from the Republic’s parliament.
From Vision to Vain Indignation
Burgers chose to make himself the subject for the portrait on the obverse of the new gold coins, with the coat of arms of the South African Republic on the reverse. The motto “Eendragt Maakt Magt” (Unity Makes Strength) was inscribed below the coat of arms. To create the dies, the Heaton Mint reached out to Royal Mint engraver Leonard Wyon. Wyon did a fine enough job depicting the President and the coat of arms, but the parliament, seeing the newly struck coins were indignant, accusing the president of vanity and egotism for using his own image on the nation’s currency without their consultation. The backlash was so severe that the coins were never officially put into circulation.
The Fine Beard and Coarse Beard Varieties
The story of the Burgers Pond is incomplete without a mention of its two distinct varieties. The initial batch of 695 coins, struck in July 1874, is known as the “Fine Beard” variety. The obverse die used to strike these coins subsequently broke, requiring a new die to be made for the remaining pieces.
This new die produced a second, smaller batch of 142 coins, which became known as the “Coarse Beard” variety. As its name suggests, the new die gave the president’s beard a thicker, more textured appearance. This second batch, with its much smaller mintage, is considerably rarer and more valuable to collectors.
The Burgers Pond: A Legacy of Rarity
Because the Burgers Pond never circulated as legal tender, the coins were sold to the public as mementos and souvenirs of a failed experiment. Many were drilled and mounted on chains to be worn as jewelry. Today, finding a well-preserved, unblemished example of a Burgers Pond is a significant challenge for numismatists.
Stack’s sold the example used to illustrate this article in 2006 for $20,700. In 2013, Heritage Auctions sold the finest known example of the scarcer Coarse Beard variety (PCGS MS64+) for $128,500.
The post The Burgers Pond: A Tale of South Africa’s First Gold Coin appeared first on CoinWeek: Rare Coin, Currency, and Bullion News for Collectors.
