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Krugerrands
Krugerrands For Sale
Newly Minted Krugers For Sale
Krugers by Date
Half Kruger Dates
Quarter Kruger Dates
Tenth Kruger Dates
Proof Half Krugers
Sovereigns
Sovereign Information Sovereigns For Sale
Year 2000 Sovereigns
Gold Bars
Bars Information
Bars For Sale
Half Sovereigns
Half Sovereign Information
Half Sovereigns For Sale
Year 2000 Half Sovereigns
Buying
We Buy Gold Coins
About Us
About Us
Our Selling Terms
Order Form UK
Order Form USA

Kruger Fact File

Everything you need to know about Krugerrands.

One Ounce of Gold

The South African Chamber of Mines had an inspired idea to help market South African gold. It was to issue a one ounce bullion coin, to be sold at a very low premium over the intrinsic gold value.

Back in 1967

Krugerrands were first minted and issued in 1967, and have been produced every year since. They have legal tender status in South Africa, which allowed them to be imported into many, but not all, countries without import taxes, duty or VAT.

The Krugerrand Family

Originally only one size was issued, which contained one full troy ounce (31.1035 grams) of fine gold. This was originally known as a Krugerrand, or Kruger, for short. From 1980, three other sizes were introduced, namely a half, quarter, and tenth ounce size. Because of these, the original Krugerrand is sometimes referred to as a "full" or "one ounce" Kruger or Krugerrand, although within the trade, the word Kruger or Krugerrand is understood to be the full sized original one ounce version.

Click here to buy South African Krugerrands
South African 1oz Krugerrands
South African Krugerrands available here.
South African 1oz Krugerrands
Click to buy South African 1oz Krugerrands
Click here to buy half ounce krugerrands
South African 1/2oz Krugerrands
South African Krugerrands available here.
South African 1/2oz Krugerrands
Click to buy South African 1/2oz Krugerrands
Click here to buy quarter ounce krugerrands
South African 1/4oz Krugerrands
South African Krugerrands available here.
South African 1/4oz Krugerrands
Click to buy South African 1/4oz Krugerrands
Click here to buy tenth ounce krugerrands
South African 1/10oz Krugerrands
South African Krugerrands available here.
South African 1/10oz Krugerrands
Click to buy South African 1/10oz Krugerrands

British Investors Missed Out

At the time of the Kruger's introduction, it was not legally possible for British residents to acquire bullion gold coins, so that the Krugerrand was almost unknown in Britain until 1971.

Low Premium Over Gold Content

According to the publicity at the time, the Kruger was to be made available to world bullion dealers at a 3% premium over the current gold fix, so that after distribution costs, the coins would be available to investors in quantity at about 4% to 5% over intrinsic gold values, and possibly 10% premium for single pieces.

Higher Premium on Smaller Sizes

The fractional sizes were issued at higher premiums to bullion dealers of 5%, 7%, and 9% respectively. The fractional coins have never been as popular as the full one ounce coins, usually only being purchased as singles, so that in practice, it would usually cost 10% to 15% premium for the half and quarter ounce, and from 20% to 50% premium for the tenth ounce, most of which seem to have been used in jewellery. Most bullion houses do not want the bother of handling small quantities of low value coins.
As an example of this, in the 1970's we, as a small provincial dealer, would frequently handle 500 Krugerrands in a single day, but a purchase of 100 tenth Krugerrands was a major event, yet it was only 1/50th the size of deal!

Not a Pretty Sight

Krugers were never intended to be an aesthetically pleasing coin, just a lump of gold with a known weight and value. They certainly cannot be called pretty.
Collectors seeking aesthetically attractive coins would be better looking at British gold sovereigns, or some of the newer bullion coins.

VAT Introduced in 1973

In Britain VAT was imposed on all coins, except antiques.
In January 1995, this was relaxed on almost all second-hand goods, including gold coins. This means that existing privately owned coins can be traded by dealers under a "special scheme" whereby the only VAT chargeable is on the dealer's margin, which is negligible. Because VAT was still payable on any "new" coins, it remained more difficult and expensive to buy and sell large quantities of bullion coins.

Continuous Service from Chard

Throughout the whole of this time, Chard have maintained a dealing service for both collectors and investors in bullion and numismatic coins. During the period from 1965 to 1971, we were one of only a small number of dealers who were granted a dealers licence.

Krugerrand Technical Specifications

The following tables summarise the specifications of all the sizes.

SizeWeightFinenessGold Content Gold Content
 Grams/1000GramsTroy Ounces
Full33.9305.91731.1041.0000
Half16.9653.91715.5520.5000
Quarter8.4826.9177.7760.2500
Tenth3.3931.9173.1100.1000

SizeRemedy (Grams)Min Diameter (mm)Max Diameter (mm)Min Thick (mm)Max Thick (mm)Edge
1 oz+ 0.0732.6132.772.742.84160*
1/2 oz+ 0.03526.9327.072.1152.215185*
1/4 oz+ 0.0221.9422.061.7881.888150*
1/10 oz+ 0.0116.4516.551.251.35115

Krugerrands For Sale - Newly Minted

Krugerrands For Sale - Secondary Market

Table Notes

We understand "remedy" to mean the excess weight which the coins are designed to have to allow for any manufacturing tolerances.

The 1/12th of the alloy which is not gold, is copper.
Min. = minimum.
Max. = maximum.
Diameter. = diameter.
Thick. = thickness.
Edge = number of edge serrations
160* Spot the boob! For about 10 years, this page incorrectly stated 180 serrations. On 6th April 2010, we received a telephone call from a gentleman who had counted 160 serrations on his coin. We double-checked, and sure enough, he was right. We also tried to find our original source, but failed to find it with a quick search. It is probable that we created the specification table on either December 31st 1999 or January 1st 2000, although it is possible we could have added or revised the table at a later date. It is interesting that it took 10 years for somebody to find our error, and even more interesting that the whole world seem to have blindly copied our mistake.
185* Ditto for half Krugerrands, correcting the 150 published figure.
150* Ditto for quarter Krugerrands, correcting the 140 published figure.
We have created a new page Krugerrand Misinformation to dicusss our error further.
If you ever get bored with counting your wealth in Krugerrands, you can always check the number of edge serrations!

When this page was originally created, we could offer Krugerrands at 7% premium for singles, and 5% or £10 premium for quantity of ten or more, over the intrinsic bullion price. Please refer to our Krugerrands for Sale page for pricing.

Lemmings - Don't Be One
We can supply better coins for less money.

Postage & Packing

UK Registered Post (Special Delivery) £9 per order
EU Insured Post £10 per order
USA Airmail $10 per order
USA Insured Shipping $20 per order

The 4 Sizes in the Krugerrand Family

One Ounce Krugerrand - Obverse

We Sell Krugers

Bullion Coin Selector Page

One Ounce Krugerrand - Reverse

One Ounce

South Africa Index

Fractional Krugers

Size to Scale

Reverse of 2000 Half Kruger

Half Ounce

Reverse of 2000 Quarter Kruger

Quarter Ounce

Reverse of 2000 Tenth Kruger

Tenth Ounce

One Ounce Krugerrand Bigger Picture - Obverse

Available on Request

One Ounce Krugerrand Bigger Picture - Reverse

Available on Request

 


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