Kruggerands, the new sovereign

[bigjarofwasps]

Hi Guys,

I`ve heard a rumour that Air Crews, are now issued with Kruggerands, as apposed gold sovereigns. I`ve yet to have this confirmed, and if true I`m assuming that its the quarter ounce ones, and not a full kruggerand. Will try and confirm more details and let you know.

Can anyone shine any light on this further?

[bigjarofwasps]

I have no hard evidence, but have been told the following............

"I was a GLO on a GR4 Sqn. In the gulf I had to sign for all of the gold, money & blood chits. All were wrapped into bundles that consisted of:

1 x blood chit (printed on waterproof paper IIRC)

10 x Large Krugerrands (from the picture on the previous page)

$250 or $500 (can't remember, sorry) in $20 bills

With reference to the last, if crews had to divert and didn't take some operating cash with them, then God bless 'em, they'd just pile inot the cash and try to justify it on their return. Some of the packs had mangy $1's, $5's and the like! On our Op, all received the same pack-up which was signed out just prior to flight with their PPW. The Ops Sgt and I spent a whole day at either end of the tour sorting it all out and checking it for audit purposes. We calculted that the safe where it was all kept had in excess of ?40,000 in gold alone!!!"

"If I recall it was the biggest one (sorry, can't remember what it was called!) of those in the picture and the guys carried 5 of them. I think they amounted to about ?2500 and were wrapped in the E&E maps and then plastic to stop the maps getting covered in sweat (not that it made a difference to the map, I guess it was to stop them stinking out the office!). They would carry them along with their goolie chit in the top pocket of their flying suit. By the time they walked to the jets with everything else they had to carry they were a good couple of stones heavier!"

"Aircrew currently carry Krugerands. Had to sign for the detachments gold - some ?40,000 worth!"

[bigjarofwasps]

And this, but now I`m totally confused, as an ounce Krugerrand is worth 3 times as much as a Sovereign...

"A user unit asked to change what they were carrying for the following reasons:

a) The area they were operating in/over included societies that were unlikely to be persuaded by any form of paper money - they worked in a barter based society where gold had a value but paper/banking didn't.

b) The Sov as an individual coin represented too high a value. There being little chance of getting change, any transaction could lead to a ridiculous overpayment and consequent loss of credibility. Any single coin also represented a large proportion of the total 'stash'.

c) The Krug, being of smaller denomination made barter a more flexible operation. More coins could be added incrementaly to a deal, or more deals could be made etc.

There was no consideration given to the total value of gold carried ie Krugs weren't a 'cheaper' option the plan was to carry approx the same sterling value. There was no intention to 'distance' the carrier from any particular state/government. The fact that the Sov carried a picture of the Queen's head versus the Krug's antelope was considered, but was not a significant consideration. The main issue was personal security and the flexibility to barter in a culture where, whatever the situation, barter was expected."

[Chris Boonzaier]

I think there are different sized Krugerrands.

Also.... The Krugerrand may be more internationally known? from the old Apartheit days when every Liberal overseaser was confidering "Selling their Kruggerands" to protest the SA Govt?

Also... Maybe if the brit SAS doles out Krugerrands because if they give out Brit coins, everyone would know who was there.

[bigjarofwasps]

I think there are different sized Krugerrands.

Also.... The Krugerrand may be more internationally known? from the old Apartheit days when every Liberal overseaser was confidering "Selling their Kruggerands" to protest the SA Govt?

Also... Maybe if the brit SAS doles out Krugerrands because if they give out Brit coins, everyone would know who was there.

I agree it seems to make very good sense to issue Krugerrands instead of Sovereigns. However, I feel that a better option would have been to issue the 1/10 Oz of 1/4 OZ coins instead of the full OZ, but I suppose they must have had there reasons.

Yes Krugerrands are minted in different sizes, the below link gives details...

http://www.24carat.co.uk/krugersframe.html

[bigjarofwasps]

Slightly off topic, but interesting none the less, I read the book The Shooting Gallery by Gaz Hunter recently........

The Shooting Gallery by Gaz Hunter

Chapter 15- (Afghanistan sometime during the 1980`s), the author is employed by a company, in the UK to escort some Stinger missiles & one million dollars in Krugerrands into Afghanistan. The Krugerrands were intended for the Afgan fighters to buy weapons from China or Iran, in order to fight the Russians. The coins were placed in six thick waterproof cotton canvas bags, each too heavy for a man on his own to lift. The gold & missiles were placed onto mules and taken high up into the Afgan mountains to the Mujahideen.

Its a good book, and well worth a read. Not your usual SAS stuff.

[bigjarofwasps]

I have come across new evidence that suggests that sovereigns, were also issued during Telic as they were on Granby. In the latest war, 2003 sovereigns were issued straight from the Royal Mint. Further updates to follow........

[bigjarofwasps]

Quotes from some recent correspondence…

“Yes I do have some Gulf issue sovereigns they were all mint condition NEW ones straight from the Royal mint still in paper wrappers wish I had not unwrapped them now, but they are all dated 2003”

“I did have some sovereigns issued to me, they also issued Krugerrands, but because of their size they were harder to hide on your person the reason they tried the Krugerrands is that they are 1oz of 22ct fine gold and a sovereign is 1/4 oz of 22ct so less is more.”

“I was issued x2 packs that had 10 in each and they were all 2003 as they came straight from the Mint, you were supposed to hand them back in but as you didn't actually get a receipt if you used them there was no way of anyone knowing how many if any you had used”.