Krugerrand - One Ounce Investment Gold Coin

Krugerrands - The World's First and Most Successful One Ounce Gold Bullion CoinKruger Fact FileEverything you need to know about krugerrands.One Ounce of GoldIn1967, the South African Chamber of Mines had an inspired idea to helpmarket South African gold. It was to issue a one ounce bullion coin, tobe sold at a very low premium over the intrinsic gold value.Please spare two seconds to click the YES link at the end of this pageif you find our guide interesting, useful, or informative. It make allour effort feel worthwhile, thanks.Back in 1967Krugerrandswere first minted and issued in 1967, and have been produced every yearsince. They have legal tender status in South Africa, which allowedthem to be imported into many, but not all, countries without importtaxes, duty or VAT.The Krugerrand FamilyOriginallyonly one size was issued, which contained one full troy ounce (31.1035grams) of fine gold. This was originally known as a krugerrand, orkruger, for short. From 1980, three other sizes were introduced, namelya half, quarter, and tenth ounce size. Because of these, the originalkrugerrand is sometimes referred to as a "full" or "one ounce" krugeror krugerrand, although within the trade, the word kruger or krugerrandis understood to be the full sized original one ounce version.British Investors Missed OutAtthe time of the kruger's introduction, it was not legally possible forBritish residents to acquire bullion gold coins, so that the krugerrandwas almost unknown in Britain until 1971.Low Premium Over Gold ContentAccordingto the publicity at the time, the kruger was to be made available toworld bullion dealers at a 3% premium over the current gold fix, sothat after distribution costs, the coins would be available toinvestors in quantity at about 4% to 5% over intrinsic gold values, andpossibly 10% premium for single pieces.Higher Premium on Smaller SizesThefractional sizes were issued at higher premiums to bullion dealers of5%, 7%, and 9% respectively. The fractional coins have never been aspopular as the full one ounce coins, usually only being purchased assingles, so that in practice, it would usually cost 10% to 15% premiumfor the half and quarter ounce, and from 20% to 50% premium for thetenth ounce, most of which seem to have been used in jewellery. Mostbullion houses do not want the bother of handling small quantities oflow value coins.As an example of this, in the 1970's we, as a smallprovincial dealer, would frequently handle 500 krugerrands in a singleday, but a purchase of 100 tenth krugerrands was a major event, yet itwas only 1/50th the size of deal!Not a Pretty SightKrugerswere never intended to be an aesthetically pleasing coin, just a lumpof gold with a known weight and value. They certainly cannot be calledpretty.Collectors seeking aesthetically attractive coins would bebetter looking at British gold sovereigns, or some of the newer bullioncoins.VAT Introduced in 1973In Britain VAT was imposed on all coins, except antiques.InJanuary 1995, this was relaxed on almost all second-hand goods,including gold coins. This means that existing privately owned coinscan be traded by dealers under a "special scheme" whereby the only VATchargeable is on the dealer's margin, which is negligible. Because VATwas still payable on any "new" coins, it remained more difficult andexpensive to buy and sell large quantities of bullion coins.All"Investment Gold", including krugerrands, were made exempt from VAT notonly in the UK, but also in the entire EU, from 1st January 2000.Technical SpecificationsWehave not included the full specification table, as shown on ourwebsite, as eBay's system will not allow us to format it as a table. PricesGoldbullion prices fluctuate constantly. A number of websites show live orspot gold prices,. Our own "Tax Free Gold" website shows gold prices in12 different currencies.Expect to be able to buy a singlekrugerrand for about 7% premium over gold, and perhaps 4 to 5% premiumfor quantity, over the intrinsic bullion price. Was This Guide Useful?Ifyou found this guide interesting, informative or useful, please sparefew seconds of your time to vote for it by clicking on the "Yes" buttonbelow, thanks.Other GuidesYou may be interested in viewing our other guides:-London Gold Fixing PriceGold Bullion Bars For Investment How to Photograph Coins - Advice, hints, tips