2 1/2 Shillings Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek, Transvaal Pattern

The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek struck pattern coinage in 1874 as part of its effort to establish an independent monetary system under President Thomas François Burgers. The Burgers coinage project — produced in London by Ralph Heaton & Sons — was politically contentious from the start; conservative Boer factions objected strenuously to the obverse portrait, considering it a vanity incompatible with Calvinist values. Most of the currency issue was refused in circulation, and production was limited accordingly. Patterns from this series are substantially rarer than the circulation strikes, which were themselves commercially embarrassing failures.