The 1874 Burgerspond.

From the archives

Did Burgers also order mint machinery?

The Burgerspond was struck in Birmingham by Heaton & Sons because the Republic had no minting capacity of its own. South Africa would not see coining presses operate on its own soil until the Pretoria Mint opened in 1892 — eighteen years after the Burgerspond left the Heaton's strike line. But did Burgers intend it to be that way?

Working through American archives in 1922, Prof Arndt recalled coming across a contemporary statement to the effect that President Burgers had gone to the extent of ordering mint machinery for the Republic. Arndt's recollection was published in an extract from his unfinished history, The South African Mints, preserved in the records of the Western Cape Numismatic Society but never widely circulated.

The mystery remains unsolved. Notwithstanding subsequent searches in the archives of America, England, Holland, Germany, and South Africa, no surviving order, receipt, or shipping manifest has been found. If machinery was ever ordered, it was never delivered, never paid for, or has had its paper trail entirely lost.

What it would mean, if true, is this: the Burgerspond was not merely South Africa's first gold coin. It would have been the first product of a planned first South African mint — a project that fell with Burgers' administration in 1877 and was only fully realised, by a different government, fifteen years later.

Coin, cross, mint. Burgers' 1874 programme produced more South African firsts than any other single year of pre-Union policy. In the same year he commissioned the Burgerspond, Burgers also instituted the Gold Burgers' Cross — recognised by recent research as South Africa's first Presidential Award. Two years later came the Transvaal Cross of Honour (1876), arguably the first ZAR military award. Three foundations laid in a brief window before annexation.

A note on condition

Most Burgersponde were mounted.

The larger portion of the 837 coins ended up as keepsakes shortly after their production — disfigured when incorporated into jewellery, brooches, or pendant settings. They were not numismatic objects to most of their first owners; they were relics of a brief and ill-fated republican gold project.

This means a large fraction of the surviving population has been mounted, holed, or chased at the rim. Genuinely undamaged examples are extremely rare, and command prices several multiples above their compromised counterparts. Adjustment marks on the cheek are common and not considered detracting — these are mint-original. But solder traces, polished rims, and fields with mount-residue are everywhere. Condition matters more on this coin than on almost any other in South African numismatics.