The Library · Statement of Intent
About the Library.
Who built it, why it exists, the principles it follows, and what it covers.
The curators
In Their Own VoiceBen & Johan Ungerer The Jardines Curatorial Desk
This library exists for a simple reason. South African numismatics is one of the most historically rich collecting fields in the world, and yet, for a long time, the public-facing reference material was scattered across out-of-print catalogues, dealer leaflets, internet forums, and the kind of secondhand summaries that get a date wrong here, a provenance wrong there, until the wrong version of a story is the version everyone repeats.
We started Jardines Galleries because we wanted to handle the pieces properly — buy properly, sell properly, grade properly, document properly. The library is the part of that work that doesn't sit in a slab. It's the long-form context that makes a coin or a note legible: the mint that struck it, the year it appeared, the people connected to it, and the diagnostics that tell you whether what you're looking at is what it claims to be.
We write for the collector we wish we'd had as a reference twenty years ago. The library is free, it will always be free, and it will be wrong about something somewhere — because no reference of this size is ever complete or perfect. When we find an error, we correct it. When the record is genuinely uncertain, we say so. That's the standard, and it doesn't move.
Five principles
How the Library Is WrittenWhat the library covers
Scope & BoundariesIn Scope
What we cover
- Pre-Union coinage — VOC, Cape, Griqua, Orange Free State, ZAR
- Anglo-Boer War emergency issues — Veldpond, Burgers, siege material
- Union coinage, 1923 – 1960
- Decimal coinage, 1961 to the present
- The Krugerrand series — gold, silver, proof, bullion
- Commemoratives — Natura, Protea, Mandela, Big Five
- Banknotes — pre-1921 private banks through SARB and polymer
- Tokens, medals, fiscal items, and emergency paper
- Mint history, monetary timelines, named personalities
- Grading, authentication, and counterfeit diagnostics
Out of Scope
What we don't cover
- Other African nations' coinage (with rare exceptions where context demands it)
- Foreign coins that circulated briefly in South Africa, beyond background context
- Investment advice, market predictions, or price forecasts
- Confidential client information from valuations or consignments
- Any speculation we cannot back with a verifiable source
The references
Standard SourcesThe library draws on the standard works of South African numismatic literature, the official records of the South African Mint and Reserve Bank, and the auction archives that document realised prices. The full annotated reference list lives in Bibliography & Further Reading. The following are the foundational works.
- Brian HernHern's Handbook on South African Coins. The standard catalogue.
- Elias LevineThe Coinage and Counterfeits of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (1974).
- Krause & MishlerStandard Catalog of World Coins.
- South African MintOfficial records and historical publications.
- South African Reserve BankBanknote and currency archives.
- NGC, PCGS, PMGPopulation reports and certified census data.
- Heritage AuctionsRealised price archive — South African material.
- Spink & SonAuction catalogues and South African specialist sales.
- Noonans MayfairBritish and Commonwealth medal and token records.
- Western Cape Numismatic SocietyResearch papers, particularly P.H. Nortje.