Coins: Investing in Moodiba?

Bruce Whitfield:
Time to talk about coins now. I've got a 1924 half crown, which my dad as a little boy lost underneath the floorboards of the family home. The house was torn down in the 1950s and my dad went to the same spot where that very valuable coin, at the time when he lost it, slipped through the cracks and retrieved it and I have it now and I quite like it.

The trouble is that it is probably worth nothing because I cleaned it in vinegar which I thought was a sensible thing to do and it is probably worth even less now. Alan Demby is the chief executive of the SA Gold Coin Exchange, he is in the ‘World at Six’ studio this evening and Alan if I gave you that coin would you give me anything for it?

Alan Demby:
I would give you some vinegar back for it.

Bruce Whitfield:
Because there is the reality in that just because it's got an old date on it, it doesn't actually mean that it is worth anything.

Alan Demby:
Exactly, some coins if they are tampered with lose their value indeed.

Bruce Whitfield:
We have got so many questions talking about coins but if we can talk about some of the better-known coins, the Kruger Rands, the Mandela medallions and all these sorts of things. Some of these things are more valuable than others.

Alan Demby:
Absolutely yes, well it depends on the condition, it depends on the metal but sometimes it is not only the metal. A silver coin could be worth very much more than a gold coin so the rarity comes really into play, certainly when you talk about older coins. But today in South Africa we do find that most collectors, most investors, like a gold.

It is part of our heritage, perhaps it was with the inception of the Kruger Rand in 1967, perhaps it is because of you guys who announce the gold price every day or perhaps it is the television telling us the gold price every day but we seem to be a gold-orientated sort of psyche.

Bruce Whitfield:
But if you bought a Kruger Rand at the peak of the gold cycle, $800 an ounce in the 1970s, that thing is probably still worth $800 or thereabouts.

Alan Demby:
Well in 1980 when Russia invaded Afghanistan gold went to $800 an ounce but the rand-dollar exchange rate was such that the Kruger Rand price then if I'm not mistaken was about R800. Today, although the gold price is around $650, the rand-dollar exchange rate it is now about 7.02; that puts Kruger Rands at about R4750 so as a rand hedge Kruger Rands have been…

Bruce Whitfield:
They have been a currency hedge.

Alan Demby:
Absolutely.

Bruce Whitfield:
I am not sure how good you are in paper money Alan because Peter in Mowbray has got paper money from the Boer War and for no other reason Peter other than that sounds very interesting. What kind of money is it?

Peter:
It is a ‘Goverment Noot’, one pound.

Bruce Whitfield:
One-pound ‘Goverment Noot’. Is it South African money or British money?

Peter:
No, it's from the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek, promise to the bearer one-pound sterling and it is hand signed and you can see it is hand signed because it is smudged.

Bruce Whitfield:
Is it in wonderful condition?

Peter:
It is in beautiful condition, it is dated the first of the fourth 1901 in Pietersburg and countersigned by the ‘Ouditeur Generaal’ and the ‘Tesourier Generaal’.

Bruce Whitfield:
Well they obviously didn't have too much to do in those days, they didn't have television.

Peter:
It was during the Boer War, it is the same period.

Bruce Whitfield:
No absolutely, I am not sure if it is worth anything. I don't know Alan if you can help Peter out at all and put a value on a banknote like that which sounds like a very wonderful rare collectors piece.

Alan Demby:
I can't give you an accurate price on that one and of course it does depend on the condition but indeed the ZAR banknotes are quite collectable notes and some of those notes sell for R20 000 to R30 000 so it may well be that that note is quite valuable and yes banknotes today are quite valuable.

A very famous $10 000 US banknote, it is called a watermelon note because all the zeros look like watermelons, traded hands a few years ago for over $1-million. So there is indeed a great interest in collecting banknotes today.

Bruce Whitfield:
It is such a wonderful piece of history, hopefully Peter it is worth a lot of money but hopefully you can hold onto that and you don't have to get rid of it.

So many questions coming through on the SMS this evening and one question that I am not sure that you can answer and a number of people asking the Mandela year 2000 R5 coin and the inauguration R5 coin as well. Zaeed says please don't tell me it is worth five rand which it may very well be just R5. I mean are there some of the South African fairly recently issued R5 coins that might be worth more than others?

Alan Demby:
Well he should be grateful that I don't think it is worth R4.50 but Mandela coins are worth quite a lot of money and there are a whole string of coins that have been issued since 1994, medallions, coins and as you say in the year 2000 the South African mint issued and circulated R5 coins but they also issued proof coins, now some of these coins are worth a couple of thousand rand.

In all likelihood, most of the listeners who have sent in questions have probably got coins that they picked up so those coins probably would have been worn down and those coins are quite common. If I'm not mistaken they issued a couple of hundred thousand of those coins but the actual proof like coins they only issued a couple of thousand and those are worth a lot.

Bruce Whitfield:
As long as they are the proof coins. Vivienne in Springs, you have got some silver Kruger tickies.

Vivienne:
Yes I do, I have got a bracelet that has got silver Kruger tickies on them and they date from 1891 to 1899. There are nine of them made up into the bracelet and what I think sadly is that they have been soldered onto.

Bruce Whitfield:
I think that is the key point Vivienne in Springs. That’s the key issue isn’t it because a number of questions also saying I have got a necklace or a broach that has been turned from a coin into a piece of jewellery.

Alan Demby:
Quite right, in its day most people take a coin and put it into jewellery and they sold it on not knowing that that coin might in time be worth quite a lot of money. As it turns out, most of these tickies today aren’t that valuable.

Bruce Whitfield:
What is the valuable ticky because there is one year that is more valuable than others?

Alan Demby:
Absolutely, it is the 1931 ticky and that is worth about R20 000 to R25 000 today.

Bruce Whitfield:
It is one that you're not going to find in your Christmas pudding probably. Modern coins, we talk about old coins and they are terribly exciting and their history is wonderful as well, you have given me a box of coins this evening from the CowParade and these are gold coins that have got nearly a full ounce of gold in each one of them and you make it quite trendy and quite funky with CowParade pictures and all sorts of things on them.

Alan Demby:
Well you know we are trying to broaden the market and this is a product that we are producing ourselves. We have got permission from CowParade International to use their designs on our coins and to make it fun and funky, we call the coins scions, and if you turn over the coins you will see that we have got the Queen on the other side so we have got permission from the Cook Islands to put the Queen on so therefore it is legal tender, it is not a medallion, it has got a face value of $200 and you pay a small premium over the gold price, it is about R7000, and each coin consists of one ounce of fine gold, 999 gold.

Unlike the Kruger Rand which is 22 carat gold and each coin has got a hundred designs and what makes it fun and funky is that the coin you are holding over their is called a Discount Mooti, some of the other coins are called Picowso, we have got Moodiba and MoooDonna.

Bruce Whitfield:
But it is making coin collecting fun as well is it not?

Alan Demby:
That’s all that it is. We are trying to broaden the market and with gold booming as it is with people having a little bit more extra cash it is a wonderful way to put a percentage of your savings into gold.

Bruce Whitfield:
Rapidly running out of time, Trudy in Pretoria, tell us your coin story very quickly if you can.

Trudy:
I have got a 1917 gold pound with King George’s head on it and I was wondering how valuable that is.

Bruce Whitfield:
Let’s see if Alan can give you an answer. Thanks Trudy in Pretoria.

Alan Demby:
R1000 today.

Bruce Whitfield:
R1000 today for a coin that was worth a gold pound in 1917. Does it actually have physical gold in it?

Alan Demby:
Oh yes, it is about a 4.4 sovereign, that's what it is, is equal to one ounce. In fact prior to 1967 the sovereign was the most popular gold coin in use in the world and after 1967 the Kruger Rands took over and today are the most popular and most widely traded bullion coin in the world.

Bruce Whitfield:
And also lots of Mandela coins available at the moment as well.

Alan Demby:
Yes, the Mandela market is becoming quite strong, it's got a lot of legs in it and probably today probably about R200-million's worth of coins of some description relating to the South African democracy, since 1994 Mr Mandela, democracy coins and medallions and coins have been minted and are traded.

Bruce Whitfield:
Alan Demby we are going to have to leave it there, such a pity, so many questions and so little time but he is the chief executive of the SA Gold Coin Exchange.

RSS

de.li.cious

facebook