Postal orders of the South African Republic explained

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 Dutch.

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.

Denomination Chart

Catalogue numberDenominationCommissieColour
PS7011 Shilling1 PennyBlack
---1 Shilling and Sixpence1 PennyBright Blue
PS7022 Shillings and Sixpence1 PennyBistre-brown
PS7035 Shillings1 PennyOlive-green
PS7047 Shillings and Sixpence2 PenceYellow-orange
PS70510 Shillings2 PenceTurquoise-blue
PS70612 Shillings and Sixpence3 PenceBrown-red
PS70715 Shillings3 PenceDeep blue
PS70817 Shillings and Sixpence3 PenceRed-orange
PS70920 Shillings3 PenceReddish-purple

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.

References