Catalog
1 Pond Sterling
| Issuer | Gouvernement van Nieuw Griqualand |
|---|---|
| Year | 1868 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The face of the note is printed in black on white paper and centres on a royal coat of arms surmounted by a crown within an ornate vignette at the top centre, flanked by the inscription 'GOUVERNEMENT VAN NIEUW GRIQUALAND' on a ribbon banner. Two circular guilloche medallions bearing the denomination 'EEN POND STERLING' are positioned at the left and right margins. The body of the note carries a multi-line Dutch-language text authorising the issue of ten thousand pounds sterling for a period of ten years from 1 January 1868, with the place name 'Mount Currie' inscribed in manuscript at the lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | GOUVERNEMENT VAN NIEUW GRIQUALAND VOLGENS BESLUIT VAN DEN HOOG-ED VOLKSRAAD Van den 5den November, 1867 WAAREBIJ DIT GOUVERNEMENTS-PAPIER TOT EEN BEDRAG VAN TIEN DUIZEND PONDEN STERLING wordt uitgegeven onder verband van alle Onroerende Gouvernements-Eigendommen HEEFT HETZELVE EEN GEDWONGEN KOERS VOOR TIEN JAREN VAN AF DEN 1sten JANUARY, 1868 en zal na verloop van dien tijd jaar na jaar tot een bedrag VAN VYF DUIZEND PONDEN STERLING WORDEN VERNIETIGD EEN POND STERLING Mount Currie |
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| Comments |
Nieuw Griqualand — today's Northern Cape — was a disputed diamond territory that the Cape Colony formally annexed in 1871, just three years after this note was issued. The Griqua people under Waterboer had invited British protection partly to fend off encroachment from the Boer republics, and the issuing authority here reflects that brief window of quasi-autonomous governance before Waterboer's administration was absorbed entirely.
Surviving examples of the S361 series are exceptionally rare. The government that issued them ceased to exist within a few years, there was no redemption infrastructure, and the physical volume of notes produced was small to begin with. Most of what circulated in Griqualand West in this period was commodity-based exchange anyway.