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Why Were Krugerrands Illegal in the U.S.?

Krugerrands were never illegal to own in the United States. From October 11, 1985, to July 10, 1991, it was illegal to import them, a sanction against South Africa's apartheid government. Coins already in the country stayed legal to hold and trade throughout. If you've read that Krugerrands are illegal, they aren't: no U.S. law restricts buying, owning or selling one today.

The ban's dates and scope get blurred in the retelling, so what follows comes from the executive orders and the act of Congress themselves. Today's gold Krugerrands carry no restriction, but the ban left two marks you can still see: a run of tiny mintages in the South African Mint's records and an American gold coin that shares the Krugerrand's weight.

What the 1985 Order Actually Prohibited

Executive Order 12535 prohibited importing Krugerrands into the United States from 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 11, 1985. President Reagan had signed it on October 1. Importation was all it banned.

On the day the ban began, the Treasury Department's press release spelled out how far it reached. Krugerrands in every denomination were covered, along with coins modified with a clasp or hoop so they could be worn as jewelry. Krugerrands already in the United States, the release said, weren't affected. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control put the ban into the South African Transactions Regulations, issued October 9, 1985.

So the ban shut the border, not the market. Krugerrands kept selling on the secondary market between collectors and dealers, and no one who held a coin broke the law by keeping or selling it. What stopped, from 1985 until 1991, was the arrival of new coins.

Key Dates of the U.S. Krugerrand Import Ban

Two legal instruments carried the ban, first an emergency executive order and then an act of Congress. Eight dates mark the stages.

Why a Gold Coin Became a Sanctions Target

South African gold reached private buyers as Krugerrands. South Africa's Chamber of Mines conceived the coin in 1967, and Rand Refinery and the South African Mint produced it to give private investors access to the gold mined there. Sanctioning the coin hit that trade at the point where ordinary buyers took part in it.

Pressure built through 1985. On July 26, UN Security Council Resolution 569 urged member states to prohibit the sale of Krugerrands and all other coins minted in South Africa. On September 9, President Reagan declared a national emergency over South Africa in Executive Order 12532, and section 5(a) told U.S. officials to consult trading partners with a view toward adopting a prohibition on the import of Krugerrands.

The import order followed 22 days later. Its legal footing was the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and it cited Resolution 569. Other countries banned the coin too, as a protest against apartheid.

How Congress Wrote the Ban Into Law

A year later Congress put the ban on firmer ground. Section 301 of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 barred importing any South African Krugerrand or any other gold coin minted in South Africa. Its last phrase widened the ban from one coin to all South African gold coins. On October 2, 1986, the Act became law over President Reagan's veto, after the House overrode it on September 29 and the Senate on October 2.

Individuals faced a specific penalty: a fine of up to five times the value of the Krugerrands or gold coins involved. South Africa wasn't the Act's only target. Section 510 barred imports of gold coins minted in the Soviet Union.

Neither 1985 executive order lasted the full course. Both lapsed on September 9, 1987, so from then until 1991 the import ban rested on the 1986 Act alone.

What the Ban Did to the Krugerrand

Sales were sliding before the ban arrived. By 1980 the Krugerrand accounted for 90% of the global gold coin market, by PCGS's account, but rivals had appeared: Canada's Maple Leaf in 1979 and China's Panda in 1982. U.S. sales peaked at 2.3 million ounces in 1978 and had dropped to 260,000 ounces by early 1985, according to figures the coin's U.S. marketing representative gave The Seattle Times in 1994.

For the ban's own effect, the South African Mint's mintage table shows 1 oz output, bullion and proof combined, falling from a peak of 6,022,293 in 1978 to 2,069,689 in 1984, 874,995 in 1985 and 21,040 in 1986. Every 1986 coin was a proof, and the 1/2 oz and 1/4 oz sizes were proof only in both 1986 and 1987. A note on that table cautions that pre-2000 numbers may be production figures, since striking could run into the following year.

Striking never stopped: the Krugerrand was made in every year of the ban, just in far smaller numbers. Canada's gold Maple Leafs picked up buyers it lost. Maple Leaf coins took 65% of the world market for investment gold coins in 1985, up from 28% in 1984, The Christian Science Monitor reported the following July.

The ban years also showed where the floor under a bullion coin sits. For several days, PCGS records, the Krugerrand traded below the spot value of the gold it contained. Traders erased the discount once they saw that unwanted coins could be melted and still turn a profit on their gold.

The American Gold Eagle Came From the Same Order

Executive Order 12532 did two things in one section. Section 5(a) set the Krugerrand import ban in motion, and section 5(b) directed the Secretary of the Treasury to study, within 60 days, the feasibility of minting and issuing gold coins.

Treasury submitted its report on November 8, 1985. On December 17, President Reagan signed the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985, Public Law 99-185, which required the minting of U.S. gold coins. American Eagles followed in 1986.

Today's American Gold Eagles match the Krugerrand's weights to within a milligram. Under 31 U.S.C. 5112, the 1 oz Gold Eagle weighs 33.931 grams and contains one troy ounce of fine gold. A 1 oz Krugerrand weighs 33.930 grams and holds one troy ounce of gold too. Fractional sizes line up the same way: 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz and 1/10 oz. We've found no document saying the match was intended. What the record does show is the sequence: the push for the ban and the coin study sit in the same section of the same order.

How the Import Ban Ended in 1991

Congress wrote the exit into the 1986 Act itself. Section 311 said its sanctions would terminate once South Africa met five conditions: releasing Nelson Mandela and others held for their political beliefs, repealing the state of emergency, unbanning democratic political parties, repealing the Group Areas Act and the Population Registration Act, and agreeing to good-faith negotiations with representative members of the black majority.

On July 10, 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed Executive Order 12769, concluding that South Africa had taken all of those steps and ordering agencies to implement the end of the sanctions, effective immediately. That's the day the Krugerrand import ban ended. Neither 1992 nor 1994, two dates that also circulate, is right.

Paperwork took longer to clear. Bush's order formally revoked the lapsed 1985 executive orders, and the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act stayed on the books until Public Law 103-149 repealed its provisions, with listed exceptions, on November 23, 1993. Buyers took longer still. When the ban lifted, the Krugerrand's premium, the amount charged over the value of its gold, was almost nonexistent, and in 1994 the Chamber of Mines launched a U.S. advertising campaign to promote the coin again.

Krugerrands Are Legal to Own Now

Nothing in U.S. law now restricts owning, buying or selling a Krugerrand. As of 1994, South Africa's Chamber of Mines put the number already held in the United States at more than 20 million coins, which says a good deal about how little the import ban touched ownership.

One point still gets mistaken for a legal problem. Under 31 U.S.C. 5103, foreign gold coins aren't legal tender for debts in the United States, so you can't settle a bill with a Krugerrand. That's a rule about money. Whether you may own the coin is a separate question, and the answer is yes.

Krugerrands on Our Two-Way Market

We list Krugerrands on a two-way market, so you can see the price to sell next to the price to buy before you place an order. Every item we sell is verified and guaranteed genuine, with the weight and fineness advertised. You can also sell on the same platform, including metals you bought elsewhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much gold can a US citizen legally own?

There's no legal limit. Public Law 93-373 provided that, from December 31, 1974, no rule, regulation or order may be construed to prohibit any person from purchasing, holding, selling or otherwise dealing with gold in the United States or abroad. Quantity isn't capped, and a Krugerrand is covered the same as any other gold.

Are Krugerrands still made?

Yes. Production continued through every year of the U.S. import ban and continues now. Proof coins come from the South African Mint, which also produces the bullion coin jointly with Rand Refinery, and Rand Refinery handles bullion distribution. A 2026 range is listed in the Mint's current catalog.

Are Krugerrands 100% gold?

No. A gold Krugerrand is 22 karat, which is 11/12 gold and 1/12 copper, an alloy the issuers chose for hardness. Copper is added on top of the stated gold content, so a 1 oz Krugerrand still holds one full troy ounce of gold. That's why the coin weighs more than a troy ounce on a scale.