Biafra 'sovereigns'

[xthomasx]

Hallo all,

in 1969, Biafra issued a set of five gold coins, modeled after the sovereign specifications: half, full, double, quintuple and ten (!) sovereigns. Maximum mintage was 3000 sets.

I just lost out on an auction of a single half-sov sized piece but hope to find some of them in the future.

Is someone here familiar with this coinage?

Is it known how many of those 3000 sets were actually sold? Are there serious estimates about how many coins survived until today? PGCS and NGC have graded a total of about 50 out of those 15000 (5x3000) coins. Is someone here aware of articles or book chapters dealing with Biafra coinage?

And: Are you aware of any other multiples of sovereigns larger than the quintuple?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Roy]

https://coins.ha.com/itm/biafra/world-coins/biafra-republic-gold-proof-25-pounds-1969-pr64-ultra-cameo-ngc-/a/61276-98031.s?ic16=ViewItem-Auction-Open-MostPopular-Thumbnail-112917

Republic gold Proof 25 Pounds 1969 PR64 Ultra Cameo NGC, KM11. Mintage: 3,000. Issue #1015. AGW 2.3551 oz.

Metal: Gold
Weight: 79.8805g
AGW: 2.355oz 

Wow!

@LawrenceChard?

[CollectForFun]

Lesotho apparently did the same set in 1969

Numista link

[CollectForFun]

BTW the whole Biafra set in original case sold recently here and both Biafra and Lesotho graded sets sold in Japan here and here. Premiums were actually not very high, so if anyone is interested, it's probably just a matter of waiting until the next one appears somewhere on the auction...

[LawrenceChard]

5 hours ago, xthomasx said:

Hallo all,

in 1969, Biafra issued a set of five gold coins, modeled after the sovereign specifications: half, full, double, quintuple and ten (!) sovereigns. Maximum mintage was 3000 sets.

I just lost out on an auction of a single half-sov sized piece but hope to find some of them in the future.

Is someone here familiar with this coinage?

Is it known how many of those 3000 sets were actually sold? Are there serious estimates about how many coins survived until today? PGCS and NGC have graded a total of about 50 out of those 15000 (5x3000) coins. Is someone here aware of articles or book chapters dealing with Biafra coinage?

And: Are you aware of any other multiples of sovereigns larger than the quintuple?

Thanks a lot!

 

 

4 hours ago, Roy said:

https://coins.ha.com/itm/biafra/world-coins/biafra-republic-gold-proof-25-pounds-1969-pr64-ultra-cameo-ngc-/a/61276-98031.s?ic16=ViewItem-Auction-Open-MostPopular-Thumbnail-112917

Republic gold Proof 25 Pounds 1969 PR64 Ultra Cameo NGC, KM11. Mintage: 3,000. Issue #1015. AGW 2.3551 oz.

Metal: Gold
Weight: 79.8805g
AGW: 2.355oz 

Wow!

@LawrenceChard?

 

3 hours ago, CollectForFun said:

Lesotho apparently did the same set in 1969

Numista link

I was aware of some Biafra coins and banknotes.

This Wikipedia page is quite informative:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biafran_pound#

I don't think I was aware about the gold proof sets, and have never been offered, or owned one; although I would certainly be happy to see one, and be able to get photos of it.

The Lesotho set is not the same, it just has 5 coins of similar specifications.

It is interesting to study the purchasing power of the Biafran currency:

Banknotes of the Biafran pound (1968 "First" issue)
Image	Value	Obverse	Reverse
[1]	5/-	Palm tree over a rising sun	Four Biafran girls

It is astounding that five shillings (25 pence) could buy you 4 Biafran girls, although as there was a severe famine and food shortage, due to multiple factors, this was probably only around 100 kilos total, depending on their age.

😎

[xthomasx]

Thanks everyone for the input.

I had seen, but not owned, the smaller Lesotho pieces, but was not aware of the existence of a 10 sov piece. The full sets of Biafra and/or Lesotho would exceed my means but I will keep my eyes on the smaller denominations. They show up at auctions 1-2x per year, and often in auctions outside the Euro realm which I am uncomfortable with.

[Thelonerangershorse]

2 hours ago, LawrenceChard said:

It is astounding that five shillings (25 pence) could buy you 4 Biafran girls, although as there was a severe famine and food shortage, due to multiple factors, this was probably only around 100 kilos total, depending on their age.

Probably get more meat on a small cow or a large pig.

[LawrenceChard]

4 minutes ago, Thelonerangershorse said:

Probably get more meat on a small cow or a large pig.

A wasn't thinking about eating them!

😎

[Thelonerangershorse]

Your post definitely implied that.

[DrAnton]

You can read more on this issue here:

COMMON CATALOG OF BANKNOTES, COINS AND TOKENS OF BIAFRA 1967-2022

https://www.academia.edu/87824655

 

The Catalog could be free downloaded

 

[ChrisSilver]

On 16/06/2023 at 08:43, DrAnton said:

You can read more on this issue here:

COMMON CATALOG OF BANKNOTES, COINS AND TOKENS OF BIAFRA 1967-2022

https://www.academia.edu/87824655

 

The Catalog could be free downloaded

I've edited your post and put the correct URL, for some reason it was a redirect link from mail.ru to the academia site.