The Burgers Pond patterns of 1874 represent the Transvaal Republic's first serious attempt at a national coinage, commissioned by President Thomas François Burgers from the Royal Mint in London. The project immediately ran into political trouble: the deeply conservative Boer population objected to Burgers' image appearing on the coins, viewing it as vanity bordering on idolatry, and the resulting scandal contributed to the broader erosion of his authority.
This bronze piece is a pattern struck for the proposed 1 Pond denomination, never released for circulation. The gold version did see limited issue, but survivorship among the bronze patterns is thin — Hern lists them as exceedingly rare.
The Burgers Pond patterns of 1874 represent the Transvaal Republic's first serious attempt at a national coinage, commissioned by President Thomas François Burgers from the Royal Mint in London. The project immediately ran into political trouble: the deeply conservative Boer population objected to Burgers' image appearing on the coins, viewing it as vanity bordering on idolatry, and the resulting scandal contributed to the broader erosion of his authority.
This bronze piece is a pattern struck for the proposed 1 Pond denomination, never released for circulation. The gold version did see limited issue, but survivorship among the bronze patterns is thin — Hern lists them as exceedingly rare.