January 27, 2010 – The Krugerrand, South Africa’s longest success story, is minted in Germany! On January 28th at 10 a.m., the world’s most extensively traded gold coin, the South African Krugerrand, will be minted in the Berlin Mint. The festivities in celebration of the first minting are an adequate remembrance of the natal hour of the Kruger Pond in Berlin 1892.
The Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, Sonwabo Eddie Funde, will mint the very first of these historical coins at the Berlin Mint, Ollenhauerstrasse.
Only 600 copies of this Krugerrand are going to be produced displaying a special mint mark, the Berlin Bear, to indicate the place where the coin was minted. It is part of the first issue set of the 2010 Krugerrand Berlin. A special silver commemorative coin, whose one side was designed by the South African Mint, the other by the Berlin Mint, completes this rare Krugerrand starter set.
The first South African Kruger Ponds were designed by the German mint master Otto Schulz at the Royal Prussian Mint in Berlin 118 years ago. The bust shown on the present-day Krugerrand imitates the bust created by the Berlin die cutter “Otto Schulz”.