With over 15 year’s industry experience, South Cape Coins have long been considered one of South Africa’s premier rare coin dealers. So when they launched their first rare coin competition in July earlier this year, there was immediate interest from local and international numismatic communities as well as South Cape Coin’s existing customers and Facebook followers.

The competition prize was an incredibly rare 1898 Sammy Marks Penny, graded MS64 RB by independent coin grading company PCGS and valued at an astounding R45 000.

After relying exclusively on traditional marketing methods for so long, South Cape Coins were ready to up the ante with their online marketing approach and this unique competition afforded them the perfect opportunity to do just that.

The 1898 Sammy Marks Penny competition was run exclusively through South Cape Coin’s Facebook fan page with links to it via their website, monthly email newsletters and dedicated PPC campaigns. In order to qualify for the competition, visitors had to ‘like’ the fan page, as well as post the following comment as their own status update: ‘I’ve just entered @South Cape Coins rare coin competition. Why don’t you? Check out: www.southcapecoins.co.za for a chance to win.’

The competition ran for a full three months, until the end of September, when Jaco Pieterse, a 26 year old coin collector from Vanderbijlpark was randomly selected as the winner. South Cape Coins were delighted to have such a genuine numismatic fan win the prize, especially as Mr Pieterse has been collecting coins since the age of 12. In fact, he still has the very first coin that he started his collection with, a 1967 R1 that he found while walking in the street one day. Since then, he has amassed quite a collection of rare local coins, as well as a number of interesting foreign specimens given to him from family and friend’s overseas trips. 

One of the focus points of the South Cape Coins competition was to make more people aware of the investment potential of rare South African coins. Many amateur collectors and first time investors are unaware that rare coins are in fact tax free (they aren’t eligible for capital gains tax when sold) due to the fact that they are categorized as ‘collectables’. Although the international coin market is well established, it’s only been in the past few decades that investors and collectors in South Africa have started to realize the long term potential of rare coins.

Although the Sammy Marks Penny Competition has successfully come to an end, South Cape Coins is looking forward to expanding its growing community of numismatic fans and experts. Followers of their Facebook fan page enjoy daily coin collecting tips and advice, links to the latest South Cape Coins blog post and other interesting numismatic news and articles. The fan page has also given South Cape Coins a very welcomed opportunity to engage with their customers and potential clients and in addition to this, it gives the fans a platform on which to ask any questions about rare coins that they might have. If you’d like to be a part of this growing numismatic community, then come and join the South Cape Coins on Facebook. 

If you’d like to find out more about investing in rare South African coins then contact South Cape Coins today or visit their website for more information: www.southcapecoins.co.za.

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