| Main centres: | 1-3 business days |
| Regional areas: | 3-4 business days |
| Remote areas: | 3-5 business days |
| Date: | 1954 |
|---|---|
| Edge: | Plain |
| Obverse: | Bust of Paul Kruger, left (same as Z.A.R. coinage). Legend above: STEPHANUS JOHANNES PAULUS KRUGER, and below between stops: 1825-1904 |
| Reverse: | Across: KERKPLEIN / PRETORIA / (Protea flower with leaves) / ONTHULLING / 11.10.54 (Church Square Pretoria unveiling). Legend: KRUGERSTANDBEELDVERSKUIWING (Kruger statue removal). At the bottom a small laurel wreath. The medal stamped: S.A.M and STG. |
| | .The Kruger Statue was a gift to the city of Pretoria from the Jewish financier Sammy Marks. It was sculpted by Anton van Wouw in 1896 and cast in bronze in Rome for a cost of ten thousand pounds sterling. The intention was to mount the statue in Church Square, Pretoria, and a plinth had been constructed there for that purpose. The statue was completed in 1899 but unfortunately, because of the Boer War, its journey to Pretoria was halted at Lorenzo Marques in Mozambique and the monument was put into storage there. In the absence of a statue a fountain was constructed on top of the plinth. When the statue finally arrived it was first positioned in front of Princes Park. Later it was moved to Pretorias railway station when that building was constructed in 1910. Finally, fifty years after Krugers death, it was moved to its originally intended location in Church Square. Prime Minister D.F. Malan unveiled the statue on 11th October 1954.Sammy Marks is better known among numismatists for the striking of one of South Africas rarer coins. the 1898 ZAR gold tickey, or threepence. Perhaps the donation of a statue in Krugers honour went some way towards influencing Kruger to permit Marks the run of the Pretoria Mint for a day to produce these coins. |
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