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2 Pence

Issuer Civil Commissioner, Bulawayo / Marshall Hole
Year 1900
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Shape Rectangular
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Obverse description Plain card stock bearing a centred letterpress text block reading the redemption promise issued by the Civil Commissioner of Bulawayo, with conditions for cash payment upon presentation of the affixed stamp between 1 August and 1 October 1900. An oval official ink stamp of the Administrator's Office, Bulawayo is applied to the lower centre, overlapping a bold manuscript signature above the printed designation "Secretary." The printer's imprint "Chronicle Printing Works, Bulawayo" appears in small letterpress type at the lower left margin.
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Reverse lettering BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY
INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER
JUSTICE FREEDOM COMMERCE
2
2 SHILLINGS
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Comments

H. Marshall Hole was Civil Commissioner of Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War's aftermath, and these card tokens were issued out of sheer practical necessity — the region had virtually no small-denomination coinage in circulation and the nearest mint was thousands of miles away. Chronicle Printing Works was a local newspaper printer, not a security printer by any measure, which is exactly what these pieces look like.

The official stamp substitutes for any meaningful anti-counterfeiting measure. Given the tiny issuing population and the remote conditions of Bulawayo in 1900, that was probably sufficient.

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