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1/2 'Penny' Griqua Town
| Issuer | London Missionary Society (Griquatown) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1815-1816 |
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| Currency | Pound (1814-1890) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Struck in Birmingham by Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint — the same facility that produced British regal coinage of the period — these pieces were commissioned by the London Missionary Society for use among the Griqua people at Griquatown in what is now the Northern Cape. The Society needed a medium of exchange for a settlement that had no access to conventional colonial currency, making this one of the very few instances of a missionary organization functioning as a monetary authority.
The issue was short-lived. By the early 1820s, Cape Colony coinage had penetrated the region sufficiently to displace it.