Spink USA
Auction 382 15 Jan 2023
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South Africa, Z.A.R, An Emergency 'Fugitive' Gold Pond, issued from Paul Kruger's Fugitive Train at Middleburg, September 1900, neatly engraved ISSUED FROM KRUGER'S FUGITIVE TRAIN MIDDLEBURG SEP. 1900 in five lines [XRF = 22ct Gold], 8.52g, with integral suspension loop, some light contact marks, otherwise near extremely fine, of historical significance in the story of Paul Kruger's evasion of the British Forces at the end of the Second Boer War, UNIQUE.
Following the 1 September declaration by Lord Roberts of the Annexation of South African Republic to the British Empire (following the Free State on the 24 May), Paul Kruger retorted that such a move was null and void. He was nevertheless in full scale retreat and this point, and so to avert his own capture by British forces, he elected to flee to Lourenço Marques on 11 September, reportedly weeping on the train journey as he went. Since then the legend of Kruger's 'Lost Millions' has captived treasure hunters with some reportedly surfacing in Mozambique as early as 1947. In 2021, the South African Mint announced that 1893-1900 period Kruger ponds had been unearthed in a Swiss bank vault and where subsequently marketed as the 'Lost Hoard' with NGC accreditation. It is known that a lack of 1899-dated obverse dies arriving to Pretoria resulted in 1898 issue ponds being over-countermarked with a '99' stamp in place, but such a problem was not repeated in 1900. Fanciful or fully-founded as these individual claims may be, the concept of this evidently (by style alone) contemporary gold witness to that remarkable moment in South African, and indeed global history provides a truly tantalising and presently unique clue towards solving that great lost treasure mystery of the 20th Century!
Estimate: $2000 - $3000
Following the 1 September declaration by Lord Roberts of the Annexation of South African Republic to the British Empire (following the Free State on the 24 May), Paul Kruger retorted that such a move was null and void. He was nevertheless in full scale retreat and this point, and so to avert his own capture by British forces, he elected to flee to Lourenço Marques on 11 September, reportedly weeping on the train journey as he went. Since then the legend of Kruger's 'Lost Millions' has captived treasure hunters with some reportedly surfacing in Mozambique as early as 1947. In 2021, the South African Mint announced that 1893-1900 period Kruger ponds had been unearthed in a Swiss bank vault and where subsequently marketed as the 'Lost Hoard' with NGC accreditation. It is known that a lack of 1899-dated obverse dies arriving to Pretoria resulted in 1898 issue ponds being over-countermarked with a '99' stamp in place, but such a problem was not repeated in 1900. Fanciful or fully-founded as these individual claims may be, the concept of this evidently (by style alone) contemporary gold witness to that remarkable moment in South African, and indeed global history provides a truly tantalising and presently unique clue towards solving that great lost treasure mystery of the 20th Century!
Estimate: $2000 - $3000