The London Missionary Society had no business minting coins — and knew it. These pieces were struck in London specifically because the Cape Colony's chronic small-change shortage left the Griqua settlements at Griqua Town without any practical medium of exchange. The LMS essentially ran the town as a Christian mission colony and stepped into the monetary vacuum out of administrative necessity rather than any chartered authority.
The tin addition to the silver alloy is unusual and unexplained in the standard references — possibly a deliberate debasement to stretch limited bullion, possibly incidental to the source metal used.
The London Missionary Society had no business minting coins — and knew it. These pieces were struck in London specifically because the Cape Colony's chronic small-change shortage left the Griqua settlements at Griqua Town without any practical medium of exchange. The LMS essentially ran the town as a Christian mission colony and stepped into the monetary vacuum out of administrative necessity rather than any chartered authority.
The tin addition to the silver alloy is unusual and unexplained in the standard references — possibly a deliberate debasement to stretch limited bullion, possibly incidental to the source metal used.