Replying to a message

Quick Links: Collectors Corner | PCGS | PSA | PSE | PSA/DNA | CU

Navigation:

customize

today

help

home

FORUMS > WORLD & ANCIENT COINS FORUM

Replying to Thread: The forgotten South African Currency
Created On Monday 5, April, 2004 8:06 PM by tokencoin

Please enter your login information to post.
Username:
Password:
I want to stay logged in.

Message Text:

http

https

ftp

mail

hr

highlight

LI Quote

Attachments:

HTML code is not permitted. Special symbols permit some HTML functionality.

tokencoin
New Member

Posts: 7
Joined: Apr 2004

Monday April 05, 2004 8:06 PM

G'day

The old and staid beliefs are often hard to move - thus it is with many numismatists who cannot come to terms with the fact that a token coin was once accepted by the wider community as "currency". Thankfully this stance is slowly shifting with detailed research revealing that a set of S African token coins are that country's oldest circulating currency. There are many other tokens in other countries which can probably claim the same type of pedigree - but I have not researched THEM!

And, no, when I talk about S African currency I am not talking about Campbell's Griquatown coins which were never actually used as currency at Griquatown or Hardcastle - simply one of those accepted fallacies that arose out of H Alexander Parsons' "The Coinage of Griqualand" (Spinks 1927) and was never questioned. (Read Rev Campbell's own accounts in his book "Travels in South Africa a second journey" which closely followed their "circulation" and Rev W Moffat's diary of his time with the Griquas in the 1817s in which NO reference is made to the "Griquatown" coins.) Interestingly most Griquatown coins that have appeared on the market have originated in England - where they were struck by Thomas Halliday. In the book "From Barter to Barclays" by Eric Rosenthal the author states, "the entire commerce of the Griqua nation totalled just fifty pounds per annum".

The first South African Currency:
======================

In 1874 the highly valued gold Burgerspond was struck - a coin which, in mint state, is today valued in 10s of thousands of dollars.

In the same year on the other side of the Drakensberg a trader, Donald Strachan, circulated the first of four identifiable sets of Strachan and Co trade tokens. Strachan and his partner, Brisley, were the most influential men in the region known as Nomansland. In letterbooks of the period there are references to these coins being circulated and accepted everywhere in a region devoid of coins of the crown.

Enter the Griquas (again) - this hotch-potch, multiracial community who's roots can be traced to the Khoi-Khoi (Hottentots) who lived in the area now known as Cape Town before the arrival of the whiteman. Where Campbell's Griquatown coins had failed 60 years before the Strachan and Co tokens succeeded with the Griquas gladly embracing the coins. This followed their earlier exposure to small amounts of imperial coinage before being booted out of Philippolis by the Boers. Yet very little official recognition has been given to this currency.

A few years before their minting the Griquas of Nomansland (aka Transkei, East Griqualand) had attempted to circulate their own one pound bank note. This bank note can only be found in the extremely rare "Early Annals of Kokstad" Rev W Dower (1902). The rest were burnt and the note never circulated.

At this link you will see the results of years of painstaking research into the purpose behind the Strachan and Co (S&Co) tokens. Many early records point to their general use as currency for over 60 years in Nomansland but two key factors provide irrefutable evidence.

Firstly, the Standard Bank of Kokstad actually accepted from and handed out S&Co tokens to its clients in the 1800s - their own recent celebration of their 125th Anniversary brochure confirms this fact! As Dower records in his book there was virtually NO circulating imperial coinage in this isolated part of S Africa before this time!

Secondly, in recent years large caches of these S&Co tokens have been found - totalling many tens of thousands of coins. It is my estimated that nearly 100,000 S&Co tokens were issued between 1875 and 1932 with the earlier two issues S&Co and S&Co MH sets reflecting smaller numbers. The volume of coins far exceeded the needs of a relatively small trading company - yet would have ideally suited the needs of tens of thousands of a scattered people living in an area about the size of the United Kingdom.

A complete set of 16 S&Co tokens recently exchanged hands at US$3,000 - a prominent S African collector recognising the facts and the important role of S Africa's forgotten currency. (I would dare suggest that he made a damned good investment when one considers their fast escalating price from US$600 a set just two years ago!) - The "MH" (Mountain Home) series is extraordinarily rare with less than 100 in most denominations.

When one considers the importance given to the seven year hiatus of the 1892-1899 ZAR coinage and their many varieties (kaal pond, 1902 veld pond, Sammy Mark tickey etc...) the importance of the Strachan and Co currency, which preceded them and survived the relatively short tenure of the ZAR, starts to come into focus.

Would welcome any feedback or comments.

Scott Balson

-------------------------
Research creates interest, interest creates value.