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| Issuer | Civil Commissioner, Bulawayo / Marshall Hole |
|---|---|
| Year | 1900 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#663A |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse serves as the stamp-bearing face of the card, with a British South Africa Company 6 Pence postage stamp affixed centrally to the worn card stock. The stamp is printed in rose-carmine and carries the BSAC armorial vignette with supporters, crown above, and the inscriptions 'BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY', 'JUSTICE FREEDOM', 'COMMERCE', 'INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER', and the denomination '6 PENCE' at the base. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Marshall Hole |
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| Comments |
Marshall Hole was the Civil Commissioner at Bulawayo when this piece was produced — an emergency measure during the acute coin shortage that gripped Matabeleland in the early months of 1900. The Anglo-Boer War to the south had disrupted supply lines and drained specie from circulation across the region, forcing local administrators to improvise. Hole's office issued these cardboard pieces through the Chronicle Printing Works, a newspaper press not ordinarily in the business of currency production.
The use of a local press is exactly what limits surviving examples: print quality was inconsistent, card stock was not archival, and most pieces were redeemed and discarded once normal coinage returned.