South African Krugerrand (1 oz) Value

Selling a Krugerrand in the U.S.

The gold Krugerrand price today to sell is a dealer’s bid on one troy ounce of fine gold, quoted relative to spot. The coin shows no face value, so for ordinary dates the gold is the whole story.

Bids move minute by minute with the current gold price, which is why most buyers quote a Krugerrand as spot plus or minus a figure rather than as a fixed dollar amount.

1. Check spot at the time you call, and write it down next to each quote.
2. Confirm the size. Krugerrands come in 1, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10 oz, and smaller coins get lower bids per ounce.
3. Weigh and measure: a 1 oz coin is 33.93 g and 32.77 mm across.
4. Ask two or three buyers for a firm number and compare each with melt.
5. Keep your purchase records. Gains on coins are taxed as collectibles, at up to 28% federally.

Worked example: turning a quote into dollars

Suppose spot is at an example level of $3,000 per ounce and a buyer bids 1% under spot. You receive $2,970 per 1 oz coin. Ten coins at that bid bring $29,700. A second buyer bidding 2% under spot would pay $29,400 for the same ten, a $300 difference on the same gold. The percentages are illustrative, but the math shows why a single phone call rarely gets the best price.

The 25-coin reporting rule

Dealers must file IRS Form 1099-B when a customer sells 25 or more 1 oz Krugerrands in one transaction. The coin is on that short list along with a few other foreign bullion coins; U.S. Gold Eagles are not. Filing or not filing a form doesn’t change what you owe: any gain is reportable on your own return either way. More on choosing a buyer is under where to sell gold.

In person or by mail

Selling across a counter is quick: the buyer inspects and weighs the coins, and you usually leave with payment the same day. Expect to show a photo ID, since dealers keep records of who sold what. Selling by mail works differently. The price is usually locked when you agree to it by phone or online, you ship the coins fully insured, and payment follows once the buyer has checked them. The locked price protects both sides from a move in spot while the package is in transit, but read the terms on what happens if the count or condition doesn’t match your description.

Selling fractional Krugerrands

Half, quarter and tenth-ounce Krugerrands hold exactly their stated gold, but buyers bid less per ounce on them, because they cost more per ounce to make and handle. If you hold a mix, add up the fine ounces first, then compare each bid to that total rather than coin by coin.

Why a Krugerrand looks orange

It is a 22-karat coin, but the alloy is gold and copper only. That copper is what gives it a redder tone than a Gold Eagle, which mixes silver into its alloy. Both coins are 91.67% gold and both contain a full ounce; the color difference is purely the other 8.33%.

Side by side, the two coins are easy to tell apart by color alone, even before you read the design. A comparison with the Gold Eagle page shows how close the specifications are.

Why copper and not pure gold

In 1967, 22 karat was the normal standard for gold coinage, the same fineness as the British sovereign. Copper made the coins hard enough to survive handling in bulk, which suited a coin meant to be bought, stored and resold by the thousand. Pure gold bullion coins didn’t arrive until the Canadian Maple Leaf more than a decade later.

IRA eligibility

Because the fineness is 91.67%, below the .995 minimum the tax code sets for gold bullion in an IRA, and because it isn’t an American Eagle, the Krugerrand doesn’t meet the IRA rules. It can be owned outright without restriction. For pricing 22K gold by weight, see the 22K gold price.

From 1967 to sanctions and back

The South African Mint launched the coin in 1967 using gold refined by the Rand Refinery. The name joins Paul Kruger, the Boer president on the obverse, with the rand, the national currency. Otto Schultz engraved the portrait; the springbok on the reverse is Coert Steynberg’s design, first used on a 1947 five-shilling coin.

• 1967: the 1 oz coin goes on sale as the first modern gold bullion coin, sold for its gold content rather than a face value.
• 1980: half, quarter and tenth-ounce versions are added.
• 1985: the United States bans Krugerrand imports as part of sanctions against apartheid.
• 1991: U.S. sanctions end and imports resume.
• 2017: the 50th anniversary; silver and platinum Krugerrands follow the gold design.

The timing made sense. In 1967 South Africa was the world’s largest gold producer by a wide margin, and a one-ounce coin gave it a way to sell gold directly to private buyers in small units, rather than only as bars to central banks and the wholesale market. Private buyers in many countries, including Americans after 1974, took to the idea.

Coins dated before the ban are still plentiful in the U.S. market because so many were imported before 1985. Dates from the ban years reached American owners later, through resale from abroad.

Why it has no face value

South Africa made the Krugerrand legal tender but left the denomination off. Its value was meant to float with gold, so a face value would only have confused buyers. The inscription on the reverse states the gold content instead, “FYNGOUD 1 OZ FINE GOLD” in Afrikaans and English.

Checking a Krugerrand before a sale

The Krugerrand has been on the market longer than any other bullion coin, which also makes it a long-standing target for counterfeiters. A few checks catch most problems.

• Weight: 33.93 g for the 1 oz. A coin more than a few hundredths of a gram off deserves a closer look.
• Diameter: 32.77 mm. Plated tungsten fakes can match the weight only by getting the size or thickness wrong.
• Color: a genuine coin has an even orange-gold tone. Bright yellow, patchy or greenish color is suspicious.
• Detail: the springbok’s legs and horns and Kruger’s beard should be sharp, not soft or grainy.
• Magnet: gold and copper are not magnetic, so any pull ends the discussion.

Terms you’ll hear from buyers

Proof Krugerrands are worth separating from bullion coins before you sell, since some buyers pay more for them. The full lineup of world bullion coins is on the coins overview.