This coin features a portrait of Paul Kruger, the president of the South African Republic (also known as the ZAR or Transvaal) from 1883 to 1900. Kruger descended from a group of European (primarily Dutch) immigrants known as Boers (Afrikaners), who colonized the Cape of Good Hope and surrounding areas beginning in the 1600s. To escape British rule, they moved eastward into South Africa to establish a self-governing South African Republic. Kruger rose to global prominence for his leadership in resisting British intrusion into the Transvaal and, ultimately, fighting the British in the South African War (1899–1902). Shortly after the British won the war, the South African Republic was renamed the Transvaal Province and was joined with other British colonies in the region under the Union of South Africa. This coin was produced during Kruger’s presidency, shortly before the war.
This coin features a portrait of Paul Kruger, the president of the South African Republic (also known as the ZAR or Transvaal) from 1883 to 1900. Kruger descended from a group of European (primarily Dutch) immigrants known as Boers (Afrikaners), who colonized the Cape of Good Hope and surrounding areas beginning in the 1600s. To escape British rule, they moved eastward into South Africa to establish a self-governing South African Republic. Kruger rose to global prominence for his leadership in resisting British intrusion into the Transvaal and, ultimately, fighting the British in the South African War (1899–1902). Shortly after the British won the war, the South African Republic was renamed the Transvaal Province and was joined with other British colonies in the region under the Union of South Africa. This coin was produced during Kruger’s presidency, shortly before the war.
Countermarking and embossing coins and banknotes adds additional messages to monetary objects, altering their original design. While there are many historical examples of countermarking for transactional and economic purposes, often countermarking is done to spread political or social messages or as a form of protest. British artist Paul Embleton countermarked and embossed coins and banknotes in 2020-2022 with messages related to the Black Lives Matter movement to show support for it and amplify its message through the circulation of the coins and banknotes. He did similar work in 2020 on British coins and notes with messages of support for the NHS in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.
Obverse Image: Two lions at top approaching center, vignette of a building to the left and to the right, denomination at center and in each corner.
Obverse Text: [NEEDS TRANSLATION]
Reverse Image: Name of bank at top, denomination to the sides, image of a man at center.
Reverse Text: 05428 / 05428 / KONG TAI BANK MONEY EXCHANGE / PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND AT ITS OFFICE IN SHANGHAI / 20 / 20 / TWENTY COPPERS / 10TH JUNE 1918 NO. 178. KWANGSE ROAD. SHANGHAI.
Patterns and experimental pieces form one of the most interesting groups of specimens associated with official coinage. It was customary for the Mint to provide samples of a proposed coin. More patterns were made in 1877 than in any other year. The Gold Rush in California prompted the merchants and bankers in San Francisco to lobby Congress for gold pieces of high denomination for quick counting purposes when a branch mint was established in their city in 1854. The design for the proposed large coin was similar to the $20 double eagle. Senator William Gwin of California introduced a bill for the adoption of this coin. His bill passed the Senate but failed to win approval in the House of Representatives. Although the coin was not approved, the proposal for such a large coin was feasible only after enough of the precious metal was available with the discovery of vast quantities in California. The depiction of Liberty on the obverse was a familiar symbol of national identity by 1877 for Americans.
Reverse Text: TEMPLETON REID ASSAYER / TEN DOLLARS
Description
Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until someone recognized it for what it was! Discoveries multiplied, and a federal branch Mint was eventually set up in Charlotte to process the metal into coinage.
Discoveries in Georgia and North Carolina in the 1820s received wide publicity, and a "gold fever" resulted. Thousands of people began trekking to the areas in search of instant wealth. Most returned home empty-handed, but successful prospectors found millions of dollars' worth of precious metal.
What should they do with their new wealth? Many felt the Philadelphia Mint was too far away for safe travel, and the government wasn't ready to create other coining facilities. A jack-of-all-trades named Templeton Reid had an answer: strike private gold coins, at a private mint. Reid had extensive experience as a watchmaker, gunsmith, and metalworker. In July 1830, he set up shop in the Georgia hamlet of Milledgeville and began his brief career as private moneyer-the first since Ephraim Brasher.
He later moved to Gainesville, which was closer to the gold mining district. His coins came in three denominations: ten dollars, five dollars, and two and one-half dollars, in recognition of "official" denominations. And he put slightly more gold into his products than the federal government did into its coins, just to be on the safe side.
Although historians believe that Templeton Reid conducted business fairly, an unknown adversary, signing himself simply "no assayer," published several notices in newspapers complaining that the coins were not as represented.
Rumors spread and before long Reid was forced to close up the business.
Obverse Image: Eagle standing on a rock, holding a shield, with a ribbon in its beak.
Obverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / AUGUSTUS HUMBERT UNITED STATES ASSAYER OF GOLD CALIFORNIA / 1851 / 887 THOUS / FIFTY DOLLS
Reverse Image: Engine-turned design.
Reverse Text: N/A
Description
As early as 1850, agitation began in Congress for the establishment of a San Francisco branch of the United States Mint. This action was blocked by people from New York-who wanted a branch in their own state-and from Georgia and Louisiana-who argued that any California operation would represent unfair competition to the branch mints in Dahlonega and New Orleans.
The opposition won, and San Francisco would go without a mint for another four years. But it did get an odd sort of hybrid, the United States Assay Office of Gold, striking an odd sort of money-a gigantic, fifty-dollar ingot that would also do duty as a coin. The arrangement was made by the Treasury Department under a contract with Moffat & Company, private assayers and gold coiners in San Francisco.
Augustus Humbert came west to oversee the operation, which got under way at the end of January 1851. For most of the next two years, Humbert's fifty-dollar "slugs" were the principal accepted currency in California. He was eventually allowed to turn his attentions to the production of smaller, and altogether more useful, coins, ten- and twenty-dollar pieces. And his operation finally laid the framework for a formal, normal branch Mint, which began the production of ordinary federal coinage in the spring of 1854.
Obverse Image: 3/4 bust of Justinian facing right wearing a helmet and cuirass, holding a spear over his shoulder and shield decorated with horseman spearing a fallen enemy.
Obverse Text: DN / IVSTINIANVS / P / P / AVG
Reverse Image: Winged Victory standing facing, holding jeweled cross and globus cruciger; star in right field.
Reverse Text: VICTORI-A AVGGG and officina letter, here Alpha (A), CONOB.