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3 Shillings Siege of Mafeking
| Issuer | Siege of Mafeking (issued under authority of Colonel R.S.S. Baden-Powell) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed voucher in black and red on white paper, with the British royal coat of arms as a vignette at top centre. The denomination '3s.' is rendered in large numerals to the centre-right, while the body of the note is filled with the authorising text and the promise of redemption in coin at the Mafeking Branch of the Standard Bank upon resumption of Civil Law. The printer's imprint of T. & Son, Mafeking appears at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | JANUARY 1900 No. A 3646 Issued by authority of Colonel R. S. S. Baden-Powell (Commanding Rhodesian Forces) This voucher is Good for the sum of 3s. And will be exchanged with for coin at the MAFEKING BRANCH of the STANDARD BANK, on the resumption of Civil Law. T. & Son Printers Mafeking |
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| Comments |
One of the more unusual emergency issues of the Anglo-Boer War, this note was produced inside the besieged town of Mafeking between October 1899 and May 1900, when Baden-Powell's garrison was cut off from any external financial supply. The printer — identified only as "T. & Son, Mafeking" — almost certainly refers to a local commercial printer pressed into wartime service rather than any established security printing house.
The siege lasted 217 days. Notes were issued in multiple denominations to keep the local economy functioning, backed by nothing more than the authority of the military commander and the assumption that relief would eventually come. It did, on 17 May 1900, though the notes were subsequently honoured — a detail that distinguishes Mafeking scrip from many other siege currencies that were simply repudiated after the fact.