The Kugerrand is a Gold Bullion coin that was the first coin to be used as legal tender at the market value of its gold content. The earlier gold coins in circulation often would be forced to be used at their face value rather than their actual value.
It is a South African coin that was first produced in 1967 to help market and popularize the Gold from South Africa. The coins have a legal tender status in South Africa, but they are often used at their actual value in different trades and transactions around the world. This means they are used at their value of the gold that is in them, rather than the amount printed on their face.
Krugerand coins originally had one troy ounce of gold, which is 31.1035 grams of gold bullion in them. But now there are a number of different sizes in the coin. They are minted to be 91.67 percent pure gold, 22 karats and the small amount of the rest of the coin is made up from Copper, which gives the coins a slightly orange color instead of what pure gold would look like.
It is a coin that was produced to try and encourage the private ownership of gold, and to find a way to get South African gold into the hands of private people, helping the economy of South Africa.
By making the coin legal tender they can legally be owned by citizens of the United States that at the time they were first created did not allow ownership of gold bullion but did allow U.S. Citizens to own foreign coins.
But because of the political situation of Apartheid they were illegal to import and own in many western nations until the reforms that occurred in 1990 to 1994.