9. The Kaalponde (Blank Pounds) and Kaalpennies (Blank pennies) of 1900

These coins were yet another creation of the Anglo-Boer War. They are cousins of the Veldponde (field pounds) in so far as they were used as ‘money of necessity’ due to the lack of regular coinage at the time. Shortly after the beginning of the war in 1899, British Imperial troops under Lord Roberts invaded the Transvaal and occupied Pretoria (the capital of the ZAR at the time). The State Attorney collected all of the minted coins and un-minted blanks and took them by rail to President Kruger at Middleburg. Pretoria fell to the British on June 5th, 1900. The whole ZAR government had withdrawn to the Eastern Transvaal (the location of Kruger National Park) and continued to fight the British until the peace of Vereeniging in 1902. The actual peace treaty was signed at Melrose House, Pretoria.

The Lydenburg Blank or Rimless Kaalpond The Machadodorp Blank or Rimmed Kaalpond

To assist with the shortage of coins which occurred at the beginning of the war, ‘blanks’ which had been removed from the ZAR mint were placed into circulation. According to P J Kloppers (the mint master), these blanks were not issued as currency until after the ‘Government on wheels’ (President Kruger and his administration moving away from encroaching British by rail) passed through Machadodorp en-route to Hectorspruit. After all the minted coins had been used, some of the blanks were used to pay troops. Others were used in exchange for Krugerponde and English Sovereigns with loyal burghers (citizens and farmers). In addition to the paying the troops, supplies, produce and sheep had to be bought from local farmers and black Africans. The black people only had confidence in English Sovereigns.
These blanks were coins at the very early stages of coin manufacture. Prior to any coins being minted, blanks are produced, prepared and then stamped. Many of these blanks had a raised rim and others had no rim at all. The blanks with a rim were at a more advanced stage of coin manufacture then those without. The next process for the blanks with rims would have been their stamping by the mint dies, creating a complete coin.

The Kaalponde that had no rims were referred to as the ‘Lydenburg Blanks’ and the Kaalponde with rims were referred to as the ‘Machadodorp Blanks.’ There are several theories regarding the naming of these coins after these two Boer towns, but without any concrete and factual information, it is useless to enter into any form of debate, save to say that the two varieties should be referred to by their two assigned historical names.

Melrose House Pretoria where the peace treaty with the Boers was signed in 1902

Some of these blanks had scraper marks of a circular type on their surfaces. These were made by employees of the mint. On finding that a blank was the incorrect weight they scraped gold from the surface until the weight was correct. There were occasions when this was done on both sides of the blank. This was done with a scraping machine. Not all blanks were scraped, as some of them had been correctly weighed.

Blank pennies were also produced. These were probably the remainder of pennies from 1898 that were not pressed into coins. Modern mints of today work in an extremely precise and efficient manner. This could not be said of the ZAR mint. This was the mint of a new and emerging country, with its first official coinage only produced in 1892. This easily explains why there was a surplus of un-coined pounds and pennies in the form of blanks.

Obverse (heads) or the Kaalpenny The reverse (tails) of the Kaalpenny

A set of these blank coins would therefore consist of the Lydenburg Kaalpond, the Machadodorp Kaalpond and the Kaalpenny. These blanks are rare and such sets will turn out to be excellent investments. NGC and PCGS have only recently begun to encapsulate these blanks. This has been due to the input of information that they have received from one of our local experts on numismatics (coinage). The blanks will not be given grades, as they do not have any impressions that can be graded. A coin is graded by determining the amount of wear and tear on the impression that is stamped onto the coin.

Arrival of Lords Roberts and Kitchener at Cape Town on January 4th, 1900
NGC and PCGS did not encapsulate these blanks in the past due to their lack of knowledge of this particular arena of South African coins. This meant that these blanks were not widely promoted in the global coin market. Now that this situation has changed, there is going to be an enormous demand for these blanks. Investors and collectors who buy these now would be getting in at the ground floor.

One of the fearsome British Imperial lancers
Until the majority of these blanks are submitted and placed into capsules, it is anyone’s guess as to how rare they are. We found ourselves in the same position with the Veldpond, when NGC and PCGS began grading them a few years ago. Grading was delayed at the time, due to a lack of knowledge relating to these coins. Today we know that the Veldpond is a great deal rarer than previously thought. When these coins were first promoted to investors and collectors, their prices were much lower than they could have been. Coin prices are based on their rarity. The less there are, the higher the price.

Field Marshall Lord Roberts who seized Pretoria If you know the mintage of a coin, this is not enough to establish rarity. If 1 000 coins were minted in the year of 1902, you still cannot be sure of how many have survived until the coins are placed into capsules by the NGC and PCGS. Both these companies keep records of all of the coins that they grade. They call these records ‘coin populations’. The term ‘population’ refers to the number of coins that have survived from the time of their minting. Although 1000 coins may have been minted, it does not mean that 1 000 have survived. Through loss, governmental melting of old coins and a host of other reasons, few coins survive the test of time.

In the case of the blanks, there are no records as to how many were minted. This makes calculating their rarity even more difficult than the Veldpond, which we know had a mintage of roughly 1 000 coins. It could be the case that these blanks are rarer than the Veldpond and also the Single Shaft 1892 ponds. Only time will tell. With our collective experience at S A COIN and with all of the information that we have at our disposal, it is our opinion that these blanks are a great deal rarer than previously thought.

The best way to collect coins from any country is in the form of sets. A complete set of coins always yields higher prices. No investor or collector can lay claim to having a complete set of ZAR ponds without having both varieties of the Kaalpond. The same can also be said for the penny. Not having the blank penny means that you have an incomplete set. As with the Veldpond, there are many forgeries of the blanks. Prospective buyers can only consider the encapsulated pieces by NGC and PCGS as genuine.

There are many investors and collectors that have complete sets of the pond and also of the ZAR pennies. They will have to buy the blanks now in order to complete their sets. Prudent investors and collectors who purchase the Kaalponde and Kaalpennies are assured of a great demand from those wanting to complete their sets.