Sell a Krugerrand today, in rands

What a dealer pays to buy your Krugerrand

Two numbers sit inside every Krugerrand sale. The first is the melt value, the pure gold in the coin priced at today's rand rate, which is the table above. The second is the payout, what a buyer actually hands over, which is melt minus their margin. With scrap jewellery that margin is wide, because the metal has to be tested, melted and refined and its carat is often uncertain. With a Krugerrand it is thin.

The reason is liquidity. A Krugerrand is a known, government-minted, one-ounce coin that a reputable dealer can resell immediately as a coin, so they do not need a deep discount to protect themselves, and a fair offer lands close to melt. We will not print a premium as if it were fixed, because it moves with the dealer, the coin and the day. The honest tool is the melt figure itself: take any offer, compare it against the melt for that coin size, and you can see in rands exactly what you are giving up. Then get a second offer and let the two compete.

Sell Krugerrand price today, by coin size

Every Krugerrand is 22 carat, 91.67% gold alloyed with copper for hardness, so a 1oz coin weighs 33.93g gross but contains exactly 31.10g of fine gold. You are paid on the fine content, never the gross weight. Each standard size holds a clean fraction of an ounce, and this is the melt a buyer prices your coin from:

• 1oz: one full troy ounce of fine gold, R70 001 in metal today.
• 1/2oz: half an ounce, R35 001.
• 1/4oz: a quarter ounce, R17 500.
• 1/10oz: a tenth of an ounce, R7 000.

Where to sell, and who to sell to

Sell to a licensed buyer, wherever you are. A compliant South African gold buyer is registered three times over, under the Precious Metals Act, the Second-Hand Goods Act and, for larger trades, FICA, and by law they must take your identity document and record the sale. That paperwork is your protection, not friction: the buyer who will not take your ID is the one to avoid. Before you hand anything over, read how to verify a gold buyer and ask to see the registrations.

We do not rank dealers or run a "best buyer" list, because the moment a price guide starts ranking shops it stops being a price guide. What we can tell you is how to choose one near you: pick a licensed dealer, take your Krugerrand in, watch it weighed and tested in front of you, and get the offer in writing. Then take the same coin to a second licensed buyer and compare both offers against the melt figure on this page. The one closest to melt wins.

Melting a Krugerrand is a criminal offence

This is the part almost nobody tells you, and it explains why a coin is worth more than its metal. Under section 34(1)(k) of the South African Reserve Bank Act 90 of 1989, it is an offence to, without the written approval of the Department of Finance, intentionally destroy, melt down, dissolve in any dissolvent, break up or damage a coin issued under the South African Mint and Coinage Act of 1964 or under section 14 of the Reserve Bank Act. The Krugerrand and its fractions are listed by name in Schedule 2 to that Act, so they are squarely covered. Taking such a coin out of the country in order to melt it elsewhere, or selling it to someone knowing that is the plan, is caught by the same provision. Conviction carries a fine of up to R50 000 or up to five years' imprisonment, or both.

The practical effect for you is simple and it works in your favour. A legitimate dealer is not buying your Krugerrand for its scrap content, because turning it into scrap is not lawfully available to them without Treasury approval. They are buying a coin to resell as a coin, which is exactly why the offer sits close to the melt figure above instead of the 70 to 90 percent of melt that scrap jewellery attracts. If someone offers to buy your Krugerrand at a scrap-gold rate, they are either misunderstanding what they are holding or hoping you do.

The same section of the Act carries a second warning worth knowing. Under section 34(1)(j) it is an offence to sell or otherwise dispose of a metal reproduction of a Schedule 2 gold coin, or to use the word Krugerrand to help sell such a reproduction. Replica Krugerrands exist, they are sold openly overseas, and passing one off here is not a grey area. Buy and sell through dealers who test in front of you.

The gain is inside Capital Gains Tax

A Krugerrand is not a tax-free coin. SARS treats a coin made mainly from gold as an asset for Capital Gains Tax, and specifically excludes gold coins from the personal-use-asset relief, so a gain when you sell can be taxable once it clears your annual exclusion. This is the point most sellers get wrong, and it is worth getting right before a large sale. The full position, with the current-year figures and a worked example, is on our tax on selling gold page. Treat this as general information, not tax advice, and confirm your own numbers with SARS or a tax practitioner.

The Goldza Project Team

General information, not financial or tax advice. Melt values are computed live from the rand gold ounce price and are the metal floor, not a payout guarantee. Capital Gains Tax treatment of gold coins: SARS Capital Gains Tax exclusions and roll-overs. Confirm current figures with SARS or a tax practitioner.