Postal Orders of the South African Republic

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The South African Republic's postal orders were introduced on 1 January 1898, which was also the date that the South African Postal Union Convention came into effect.

The postal orders are inscribed in Afrikaans.

Issued postal orders do not have counterfoils attached, as the counterfoils were kept by the post office for recording purposes. Any postal orders with counterfoils still attached are from books souvenired after the post office was captured during the Second Boer War. These are of interest to collectors of Commonwealth postal orders.

[edit] Denomination Chart

Catalogue number Denomination Commissie Colour
PS701 1 Shilling 1 Penny Black
--- 1 Shilling and Sixpence 1 Penny Bright Blue
PS702 2 Shillings and Sixpence 1 Penny Bistre-brown
PS703 5 Shillings 1 Penny Olive-green
PS704 7 Shillings and Sixpence 2 Pence Yellow-orange
PS705 10 Shillings 2 Pence Turquoise-blue
PS706 12 Shillings and Sixpence 3 Pence Brown-red
PS707 15 Shillings 3 Pence Deep blue
PS708 17 Shillings and Sixpence 3 Pence Red-orange
PS709 20 Shillings 3 Pence Reddish-purple

[edit] Currency issues (1900)

The South African Republic was the first country, along with the Orange Free State, to declare postal orders to be legal tender as an emergency currency. All denominations, except the 1/6, were allowed to circulate. This was done to save on both paper and labour.

[edit] References

  • Albert Pick (2002). in Neil Shafer, George S. Cuhaj (editors): Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. Volume 1. Specialized issues, 9th ed., KP Books. ISBN 0-87349-466-0.