1800 Patterns show the way

March 2006

Well its started.

The massive assault on early South African coin prices (pre-1900) is now turning up a gear.

Since January this year we have seen an

• 1890 UNC undated Griqua pattern coin reach over US$7,000 on eBay.
• 1874 CLEANED otherwise -UNC South Africa (ZAR) Pattern penny reach US$2,000 on eBay and
• 1888 UNC South Africa (Orange Free State) Pattern rare nickle penny reach over US$4,000 on eBay.

Hern's latest (2006) book on South African Coins and Patterns valued the 1888 piece at US$10,000, the 1874 piece at US$1,200 and the Griqua pattern at US$1,300

While we play no particular weight on the erratic values given by Hern on rare coins the price fluctuations do reflect the difficulty in keeping tabs on the extraordinary explosion in coin values as more and more collectors embrace the Internet and discover eBay - causing prices on rarer pieces to soar.

It is clear that the trend from here will be up and those who bought now did well.

The images below show the three pattern coins auctioned on eBay:

January 2006 eBay Description: Griquatown. Victoria Pattern Penny (1890), KM-Pn6, Prooflike but with blemishes. Linked here to eBay listing   Scan of the auction results at this link 27 bidders Sale Price US$7,100
March 2006 eBay Description: South Africa (ZAR) Pattern penny (1874), UNC, but cleaned with streaks. Linked here to eBay listing   7 bidders Sale Price US$1,970
March 2006 eBay Description: Nickel plated variety with an estimated mintage of only 20 pieces (1874), Prooflike but with blemishes. Linked here to eBay listing   28 bidders Sale Price US$4,200