5 Pounds

The National Bank of South Africa Ltd. was a commercial institution operating primarily in the Cape Colony and Natal — not to be confused with the South African Reserve Bank, founded two decades later. This 1900 issue coincides almost exactly with the outbreak of serious British military operations in the Anglo-Boer War, and occupation disruptions almost certainly affected normal branch banking activity across the region.

Charles Skipper & East produced plates for numerous South African commercial issuers during this period, occasionally reusing or adapting design elements across different client banks. The S573 reference places this firmly in the private commercial series rather than any government or republican issue.