South African 1 Rand Gold Coin (1961 - 1983)

The South African 1 Rand Gold Coin

The 1 Rand gold coin was firstly introduced by the South African government in 1961 as a replacement of the Half Pound as the official South African currency. The reason for making this replacement is that 1960 was the year when South Africa became a republic. The gold coin displayed on our website was issued in 1971, as inscribed on the reverse. The Rand gold coin comes in two denominations: the 1 and the 2 Rand.

The 1 Rand gold coin is made of 22 carats gold or 91.70% fineness. It has an overall weight of 3.99 grams and the weight of pure gold used in manufacturing one coin is 3.66 grams or 0.1177 troy ounces. It has a diameter of 19 mm and a 1 mm thickness. The 1 Rand denomination was valued as being equal with 10 shillings.

The 1 Rand gold coin was minted prior to the Krugerrand, issued in 1967, which has become one of the most famous gold coins. Although the Krugerrand is still issued by the South African government even today, we cannot say the same thing about the 1 and 2 Rand gold coins which were stopped being minted as of 1983. There were replaced by smaller denominations of the Krugerrand gold coins.

The obverse of the 1 Rand gold coin depicts the portrait of Jan van Riebeeck who was the founder of Cape Town. The inscriptions present on the obverse are: “UNITY IS STRENGTH" and “EENDRAG MAAK MAG" (“Unity is strength" in Afrikaans).

The reverse of the 1 Rand gold coin illustrates a springbok designed by Coert Steynbergs. This depiction was originally designed for the 5 shilling South African coin in 1948. The legend reads “SOUTH AFRICA" and “SUID-AFRIKA" (the Afrikaans word for South Africa). At the top of the reverse of the 1 Rand gold coin is the minting year, in our case 1971, and at the bottom is inscribed the face value “1 R" (1 Rand).

Even though the 1 Rand gold coin has not been minted since 1983, it is still considered legal tender in South Africa. However, not many coins of this type can be found in circulation because they present an attraction for collectors, which remove them from circulation by investing into these small coins.

There were a variety of gold coins that throughout history gave lessons to people that investing into gold is a safe way to preserve their assets. The most recent and concluding example is the 1994 crisis in Mexico. During that crisis the value of the 50 Peso gold coins increased as much as 24 times their face value. And when people have the possibility of investing into affordable coins, like the 1 Rand gold coin, they should take advantage of this opportunity.

The 1 Rand gold coin is still affordable due its small size. However, it can become an affordable coin in two situations: if demand for this coin keeps increasing its premium or if the gold spot price increase.