Details:

(Applies to both)

VELD POND Diameter: +/- 22,8mm Weight: 7,7306grams to 8.5082grams

Description:

KRUGER COINAGE - 1892 TO 1902 ZAR ISSUES

In 1890/91 a lease was granted to the Nationale Bank of the ZAR to establish a State Mint in Pretoria. The coins were to be identical in weight with the prescription of the British Coinage Act of 1870. President Kruger, anxious to get the new coins in circulation had placed orders for coins dated 1892 with the Berlin Imperial Mint.

The first consignment of pounds, half pounds and crowns arrived with two shafts on the wagon and similar sized wheels as can be seen in the coat of arms on the reverse of the coins. This caused quite a stir and subsequent 1892 pounds and crowns were issued with correct single shaft wagons and the correct size of wheels, small in the front and larger wheels at the back. Futher consternation was caused by the Berlin 1892 issues. As was customary, the designer Otto Schultz had placed his initials (O.S.) below on the shoulder area of the bust of Paul Kruger as can be seen on the obverse

of the coins, only on the double shaft issues, which is Afrikaans for ox. The single shaft pound and the double shaft crowns are the scarcer items.

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ANGLO - BOER WAR AND THE STRIKING OF THE VELD PONDE

The independent Zuid Afrikaansche Republic, or South African Republic, fought the British in the Second Boer War, which lasted from 1899 until 1902 when South Africa surrendered. 

According to J.T. Becklake, in From Real to Rand, “Towards the end of the campaign the shortage of coin available to the government-on-wheels had become even more acute, and this led to the establishment of the ‘Veld munt.’ ”

The “Veld Munt” or Veld Mint is so named for the grassland area of South Africa, the veld. 

These coins were struck at Transvaal Gold Mining Estates’ workshop at Pilgrim’s Rest using improvised equipment. 

All coins were struck from gold that was nearly pure and was assayed by P.J. Kloppers. The gold, however, was brittle, until Kloppers discovered he could use antiseptic tablets (sublimate of mercury) found in an ambulance to render the gold malleable, according to The Coinage and Counterfeits of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek by Elias Levine.

Making the dies, too, was a laborious process, and six die pairs were damaged during the tempering process (plunging the hot dies into oil or water) before the seventh pair was produced without incident.

A collar die was also created by hand, so the coins would be milled, just like the British sovereign the Veld pond was meant to supplant. 

Human muscle from two men could barely operate the press to strike the coins, and in three months’ time a reported 986 pieces were struck. Minting ended in June 1902, some 15 days after the signing of a truce, Levine wrote.

The Veld pond is a notorious target for counterfeiters because of its crude nature and its historic and monetary value. SOURCE:: COINWORLD.COM