Sole Maker of South African Krugerrands Today RAN OUT of Coins
Swiss clean out S Africa Krugerrand coin maker
Evening Standard 29 August 2008, 10:42am
The sole maker of South African Krugerrands today ran out of the iconic bullion coin after an ‘unusually large’ order from a buyer in Switzerland.
An unnamed Swiss buyer ordered a massive 5000 ounces, cleaning out the Rand Refinery’s gold stocks.The Krugerrand is the world’s best known gold coin and was introduced in 1967 to provide a convenient, easily tradeable form of bullion.
Rand Refinery has delivered more than 46m blank coins over the years.
Precious metal bullion is attracting investors as a haven against a sliding dollar and global conflict and has led to shortages.
The US Mint has suspended sales of one-ounce American eagle gold coins, and Johnson Matthey has stopped taking orders for 100-ounce silver bars at its Salt Lake City refinery. Heraeus holding has a delivery waiting list of as long as two weeks for orders of gold bars in Europe.
The gold price hit a two-week high of $844 an ounce this week and is 25% higher than this time last year but off the $1030.80 record achieved in March.
Krugerrand coins are produced as blanks by the Rand Refinery before being sent to the South African mint for stamping with its springbok markings on one side and the face of Paul Kruger, a Boer resistance leader against the British, on the other.
The success of the Krugerrand led to many other gold-producing nations minting their own bullion coins, such as Britain’s Britannia issued from 1987, the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, the Australian Nugget and the American Gold eagle.
Comment by Andreas Heubach on 9 September 2008:
USA beeinflusst Gold und Silber
Goldmünzen und Silbermünzen wie Krügerrand und Maple Leaf sind am Markt immer noch knapp!
Die folgende Krise beschreibt, warum die Nachfrage in Sicherheit und Anonymität explodiert und das physische Material vomMarkt wegsaugt!
Wie im Handelsblatt und Financial Times zu lesen ist, sei bereits die elfte Bank in den USA auf Grund der der Immobilien- und Kreditmarktturbulenzen konkurs gegangen. Die Behörden haben sogar die Silver State Bank in Nevada mit Einlagen von ca. 2$ Mrd. geschlossen.
Ab sofort wird die US-Regierung die Aufsicht über die Hypothekenfinanzierer kontrollieren. Dieser Eingriff ist seit Ausbruch der Finanzkrise der einschneidenste Eingriff der USRegierung und gleichzeitig eine der größten Rettungsaktionen in der US Wirtschaft.
Getroffen hat es dabei die Aktionäre, die kanpp 90% Kursverlust und Dividendenausfall akzeptieren mussten. Zusätzlich betrifft diese Rettungsaktion den Staatshaushalt, da sich das Finanzministerium bereit erklärt hatte zu helfen.
Comment by Mark on 9 September 2008:
(translation)
Gold and silver affects the USA Gold coins and silver coins such as Krügerrand and Maple Leaf are still scarce at the market! The following crisis describes, why the demand in security and anonymity exploded and the physical material of market away-sucks! How in the trade paper and Financial Times is to be read, already the eleventh bank went in the USA due to that of the real estate and credit market turbulence’s bankruptcy. The authorities closed even the Silver State bank in Nevada with inserts of approx. 2$ billion. Immediately the US Government will control the supervision over the Hypothekenfinanzierer. This interference is simultaneous since outbreak of the financial crisis the einschneidenste interference of the US Regierung and one of largest rescue operations in US economics. Met it thereby the shareholders, who had to accept kanpp 90% exchange loss and dividend loss. Additionally this rescue operation the national budget concerns itself, there the Treasury had ready explained to help.