PRICE REDUCTION!!! - SELLER HAS REDUCED PRICE DOWN FROM R17,950.00!!!
“Our Cape Coin Heritage 1600 - 1834” was issued by the Africana Commemorative Mint in 1978. It comes in a beautiful lockable hard-wood display case with a blue & white porcelain tile on top. The 30 medallions are embedded on red velvet with a centre column with the names of the five subsets. The coins are South African gold plated sterling silver and have the relevant South African silver hallmark engraved on the rim as pictured. The medallions represent many historic coins such as the Spanish pillar dollar (where the $ symbol comes from), the Thaler (from where we get 'dollar'), sovereigns, Rix dollars etc. The medallions show a strong mint luster. There are fingerprints and contact marks on many of them to varying degrees. Overall eye appeal is good. Comes with the hardwood velvet-lined presentation case shown (Krugerrand not included - for scale only). The accompanying booklets that were originally sold with this collection are missing. Consists of 30 medallions. Combined weight of 1109g sterling silver. 1026g fine silver.
The issue price per medal in 1978 was R29 ($33.33), which at a combined price of ±R900, represented about half the cost of a new VW Passat (today R300k). In todays money this would have been purchased for about R150 000. This truly was the 70's equivalent of current limited-edition Mandela coins. In the 80's when the price of silver hit $50 (today it's only $40), many such collections were melted for their silver content. In 2011 it is doubtful that anything near the original 5000 issues of this collection still exist. Recently an incomplete set sold on Bid-or-Buy (little info given), and I've found this link referring to a single coin from the set, furthermore hinting at its rarity: http://lakdiva.org/coins/fantasy/1821_ceylon_medal.html
From the above quoted source:
According to Prof. Michael T. W. Arnheim, head of the Dept. of Classics, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, who wrote the introductory book to the collection says The Cape has always been very much a tavern of the seas, and we ought not therefore be particularly surprised to find the coins of all major European trading powers circulating there. ... Ceylon Coinage circulated widely along the eastern trade routes and not least in the Cape. The unit of currency remained the Rix Dollars, a survival from Ceylon's Dutch Period
This is a truly beautiful historical set. Apart from being a great way to own silver bullion, because of its rarity, this has the potential to leverage the underlying bullion price when silver mania inevitably hits.
Items will be delivered for collection at your nearest post office counter.
Items can be combined from different auctions at highest shipping cost to save on postage. Add 2% of value of additional items to cover insurance.
Courier service is available. You may also arrange your own courier and insurance.
Parcels will be dispatched within 3 working days AFTER payment has been received.
If full payment is not made within 3 working days, a negative rating may be given and 5 % penalty fee may be added to total amount due.
Collections can be arranged in Port Elizabeth, waiving the postage.
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http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/seller/1994136/fine999
In South Africa, silver is no longer designated a precious metal under South African law, and is therefore not subject to the restrictions that apply to metals such as gold, platinum and palladium. Silver is still however considered a precious metal as it is rare, and in demand as an investment or inflation hedge. Silver can also be considered a monetary asset, a store of value (a hedge against inflation), a fungible commodity and displays counter-cyclical behavior (zero correlation to the stock market and negative correlation to many financial instruments including the US dollar). In addition to it's investment attributes, it also has many industrial usages.
