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1/4 'Penny' Griqua Town
| Issuer | Griqua Town Mission |
|---|---|
| Year | 1814-1816 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 20.76 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays the fractional denomination '1/4' in large numerals at the centre of the field, arranged vertically. Arching above in bold capital letters is the legend 'GRIQUA', while 'TOWN' curves along the lower portion of the field, completing the three-word inscription that identifies both the issuing community and the coin's value. The lettering is deeply struck in a plain serif style, filling the available field without additional ornament. A reeded border encircles the entire reverse design. |
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| Edge | Reeded almost vertically |
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| Additional information |
The Griqua Town Mission coinage was authorized by the London Missionary Society to provide a medium of exchange for the Griqua people at their settlement near the upper Orange River — a community that had no access to official colonial currency and largely operated through barter. The pieces were struck privately in England and shipped to the Cape frontier, making them among the earliest tokens produced specifically for an indigenous African settlement under missionary administration.
The issuer was not a government but a Protestant mission station, which gives this piece an institutional character found almost nowhere else in early 19th-century coinage.