1965 50 cent English Legend South Africa coin info and suggestions required

[Ant stearns]

May have an opportunity to purchase a 1965 English Legend 50cent coin. Please could I get assistance from this forum about mintage, history of the coin, current market value and a view on whether it would be a worthwhile purchase or not. Has a grading of PR65

[thebeav]

It appears to be the key to the limited series. NGC Price guide......

I'm not sure I would want to pay 'guide' price, but I would also want to consider the source. As far as reliability goes.

Why is there no serial number on the PCGS label ? That's a bit suspicious.

[World Colonial]

My post is late and maybe too late to help the OP, assuming they even see this reply.

I have collected South Africa for 20 years, though not much from RSA (1961 to date).  This coin is one of many from the 1960's where one of the two legends (English and Afrikaans) had a low mintage, as in from 20 to 85 I reall.

If you really want it, go ahead and buy it but only as a collectible.  Sounds to me you are also considering it for financial reasons and if so, I wouldn't buy it.  There is no market for it outside of South Africa and a non-local will only be able to sell it to a South African later (almost certainly for less money) unless another foreigner also buys it for speculation.  There is respectable demand outside of South Africa for the ZAR series (1874-1902) but almost none for Union (my series) and RSA.

I would also ignore price guide values, whether Krause or Hern, the local SA guide.  The prices in both are just "made up" and there is no evidence either reflect actual prices.  

It is also evident though that market prices are distorted by the inflated price guide values because most buyers don't know what I am telling you.  These coins are "rare" but have no distinction and are overpriced for the relative merits.  By comparison, for the same money, any number of Union proofs dated 1926-1943 can be bought which are only slightly more common or even scarcer, it just depends upon the exact comparison in comparing the price difference and scarcity.

So to summarize, I consider this coin undistinguished and overpriced for its merits.  There are a lot better values, both financially and for collecting elsewhere.

 

[numisport]

It may be under graded for what its worth if hairline free buy it cheap. Should be technically graded but then you never know

[World Colonial]

3 hours ago, numisport said:

It may be under graded for what its worth if hairline free buy it cheap. Should be technically graded but then you never know

Sound advice for most US coins which are at least somewhat liquid or those form elsewhere (such as the better highly collected British coins).

The problem with this coin, the RSA series and South African coinage generally is that there is almost no market elsewhere for most coins above a nominal value.  By "almost no market", I am referring to one near the "real" price which is set in South Africa and not elsewhere, unlike most other better higher quality coins whose prices are probably determined by US collectors.  For the foreign buyer, it is very likely to be a "one way" market and a secondary reason why I don't prioritize this series anymore.

The lack of liquidity combined with the relatively high price level (by world coin standards) makes buying a coin like this one a financially risky proposition.  I don't know what this coin is actually "worth", since I don't care and never collected it.  I've seen these coins sell in prior auctions and have a limited recollection of the catalog prices but that doesn't say much about what the next one will sell for, much less what the new buyer will receive when they sell.

On the BidOrBuy forum, I once provided an extensive analysis providing my estimate on the number of buyers of ZAR (by far the most preferred segment of the three) above $10,000 using the 1894 1/2 pond NGC MS-63 which sold to US dealer Clark Smith for $12,750.

The number I estimated?  Five to 10 outside SA, possibly excluding expatriates and maybe 40 to 50 total, excluding the 1902 veld pond and 1874 Burgers pond.  Subsequently, I estimated that the number for all South African coinage might also be as few as 50.  For a coin in this price range, certainly noticeably higher but still almost none for RSA outside SA.

My estimates were derived using Heritage sales data for all world coinage valued over $10,000, South Africa's relative rank at this price level in this database, the TPG populations, anecdotal observations in other auctions and dealer websites and a common sense application of how collectors view this series versus others.

[rrantique]

On ‎1‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 11:30 AM, Ant stearns said:

May have an opportunity to purchase a 1965 English Legend 50cent coin. Please could I get assistance from this forum about mintage, history of the coin, current market value and a view on whether it would be a worthwhile purchase or not. Has a grading of PR65

https://www.ebay.com/itm/South-Africa-50-Cents-1965-Afrikaans-NGC-PF-67-VERY-RARE/183068939201?epid=102090366&hash=item2a9fc253c1:g:o-gAAOSwkNpaY00-

[thebeav]

That ebay link doesn't go to the English variety.