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17 Shillings 6 Pence
| Issuer | Post Wissel Kantoor (Postal Exchange Office), Orange Free State |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed with a mirror-image show-through of the obverse text visible through the thin paper. Three orange-red One Penny postage stamps of the Orange Free State are affixed horizontally across the centre, each cancelled with a circular postmark. A large red circular 'GENERAL POST OFFICE / NAIROBI' cachet is struck at left, with additional manuscript notations and partial cancel impressions scattered across the surface. |
| Reverse lettering | GENERAL POST OFFICE NAIROBI ONE PENNY |
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| Comments |
The Post Wissel Kantoor functioned as the Orange Free State's postal money order office, and by 1900 it was operating under extreme pressure — the Anglo-Boer War had severed normal banking channels and the Free State government was improvising financial instruments to keep commerce and administration moving. This note's odd denomination, 17 shillings and 6 pence, reflects the pragmatic reality of postal money orders: they were issued for specific transactional amounts, not rounded banking figures.
The revenue stamp serving as the primary security feature is characteristic of wartime expedients, where orthodox printing infrastructure was either unavailable or already committed to military scrip production.