Written by Scott Balson and published by Interactive Presentations Pty Ltd in January 2004:

Back cover overview of "The Griquas of South Africa and their Money "

"The Griquas of South Africa and their Money" is an extraordinary book in many ways. It begins by giving an outline of the history of the "Bastard" people who were cast out of the Cape in the 1700s. The history of the Griqua people, whose origins came from the Hottentots, is woven into the fascinating history of their coinage.

The book challenges many of the widely accepted misconceptions and romantic notions about the actual use of John Campbell's (1766-1840) "coins" allegedly issued in 1815. It is clear from this carefully researched book that the Griqua Town coins were never used by the Griquas and were, therefore, not South Africa's first currency.

Back cover of the book "The Griquas of South Africa and their money" continues:

However, it is clear that the Strachan and Co tokens, issued in the same year as the Burgerspond (1874), were used by the Griquas in Nomansland (in a remote area on the eastern side of South Africa)!

Importantly the book provides many unique insights into the money actually used and produced by the Griquas.

Images right: Two of many colour plates in the book - map and rare tokens from the East Griqualand region

The printing and then destruction of the extremely rare Griqua Pond note is covered in detail, with the book providing a unique and fascinating insight into the workings of the Griqua Parliament that ordered its production. The unissued note, dated 1868, was destroyed after one of the major players in the book, Donald Strachan, personally intervened and stopped its circulation.

The 1890 Proof Griqua Town Pennies are discussed and various theories that have been canvassed by numismatists in the past when trying to provide a background to their minting are either rejected or validated using careful research. This fact alone makes this book an important addition to anyone who has an interest in Griqua or South African coins.

Perhaps the most important chapters in this book cover the acceptance of the Strachan and Co trade tokens as a regional currency for over 50 years in Nomansland an area larger in size than the independent South African states of Swaziland and Lesotho. The argument supporting this claim cannot be disputed with references to Rev W Dower's book "The early annals of Kokstad and East Griqualand" and the Standard bank in Kokstad's fact sheet covering their 125 year history of doing business in East Griqualand.

Also included in this book is a detailed history of the F C Larkan token coins - the only South African tokens issued by a woman. The histories of the Larkan tokens and those of Strachan and Co are intertwined and reflect the importance of trade tokens to the very existence of remote outposts like Nomansland in the 1800s.

The book also carries comprehensive statistical information on the four sets of Strachan and Co and the various F C Larkan token varieties, their values (which are now set to rise dramatically) and, uniquely for tokens, estimates on the tokens minted based on coins counted by the author back in the 1970s.

This is a fascinating work which will, without doubt, become the future reference book for numismatists and coin dealers trading in the coins of the Griqua people.

The author, Scott Balson, has a unique collection of Griqua coins and bank notes collected over a period of 25 years. He has already written six books on various subjects including the highly sought after work "Kence, the trade tokens of Strachan and Co" which was published in 1978 and covers his research into the S&Co tokens at that time.

Finally the book has ten colour plates which give a glimpse into the life and times of the Griqua people and includes a number of pages with the Griqua coinage as well as rare and unique coinage from that region.

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Chapters in the book "The Griquas of South Africa and their money":

Colour plates:

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Book Orders (Sold Out):

PLEASE NOTE THE BOOK IS NOW SOLD OUT

Order the book by mail in Australian dollars from this link.

The paperback book, has 44 pages and a further 10 pages of colour plates with historical photos, maps and high quality coin images. The book sells for US$20. Postage US$5 per order. 

(Note the first 20 copies of the book numbered and signed by Scott Balson and carrying a Strachan and Co 3d "In Goods" attached to the end of a thin leather bookmark and bound into the book have now been sold. The coins in these first 20 books were included to commemorate the Griqua Pond bank note carried in Dower's book "The Early annals of Kokstad and East Griqualand").

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Controversy over Griqua Town Pattern coins
(extensive notes below where linked symbols found in this extract shown in purple)

Because of the growing debate over this important point we have added this extract from the book (shown in purple below). Subsequent notes linked to symbols placed in the article are added at the end of this extract from the book:

It was at this same meeting with the Bastards (Griquas), and probably more as a celebration of the name change that the idea of minting South Africa's first coinage was discussed. Campbell notes in his 1815 book "Travels in South Africa" on page 256:

"It was likewise resolved that as they had no circulating medium amongst them by which they could purchase any small article, such as knives, scissars (sic) etc, etc. supposing a shop to be established amongst them* which they were anxious there should be - they should apply to the (London) Missionary Society to get silver pieces of different value coined for them in England, which the Missionaries would take for their allowance from the Society, having the name of Griqua Town marked on them. It is probable that if this were adopted in a short time they would circulate amongst all the nations about, and be a great convenience".
* NOTE: No shop was established at Griquatown or in the region until many decades later.

Campbell returned to the United Kingdom in 1814 and, apparently acting on his own, ordered the minting of a set of four coins. (See Coins Here)

In the booklet "The Coinage of Griqualand" by H Alexander Parsons (1927 reprint of the Spinks and Son Numismatic Circular)*, he states,

"Campbell seems to have acted on his own initiative in the matter without consulting his fellow directors of the London Missionary Society… no correspondence or resolutions on the subject have been discovered in the archives of the Society". An insight into Campbell, the man

The coins were allegedly struck by the die sinker Thomas Halliday and claimed by Parsons to have been sent out to the Griquas in 1815 followed by a second mint in 1816 - unsubstantiated evidence coming from correspondence by Halliday.µ

In his booklet Parsons describes the difference between the two strikings thus: The slight difference lies mainly in the form of the olive branch held in the beak of the dove, and it also occurs on the farthing, the obverse die of which is the same as that of the five pence (sic).

The author refers to the use of pence as (sic) because the type of currency is the first mystery about this "coinage" with the "values" in Roman Numerals not referring to "d" for pence. The currency of pounds, shillings and pence was far too complex for a remote and uneducated people to grasp.¢ In fact any form of currency, however noble in nature or formation, was doomed to failure among the Griqua people who had very few in their number who could count. In the best case scenario the values of ¼, ½, (in bronze) and the five and ten (in silver) reflect Campbell's attempt to ease the Griquas understanding of and use of money. But then why were so few "¼" and "½" coins struck - consider the number of these required to make up change for a single "5" or "10"?ß

Personally the author has well-placed reservations as to whether the Griqua Town coins were, in fact, ever used by the Griqua community.

The book "From Barter to Barclays", compiled by Eric Rosenthal for Barclays National Bank refers to the Griqua Town coins and states that at this time "the entire commerce of the Griqua nation totalled just £50 per annum" while Campbell notes on page 256 of his book that there were only 291 men in Griqua Town (in 1813)!

The words of Robert Moffat (pictured right) in the 1820s, repeated in the opening paragraph of Parson's own book produced for Spinks and Son in 1927, kills the very idea of the Griqua Town coins ever being used as currency by the Griquas.

"they (the Griquas) showed but the slightest traces of civilisation, were unclothed and unhoused, wretched in appearance, disgusting in their habits, and with no moral or religious beliefs or conceptions". #

Moffat (1795-1883), originally a gardener from Manchester in the United Kingdom, was accepted by the London Missionary Society as a missionary in June 1816 and accepted a post in South Africa arriving at Cape Town on 13th January 1817. He was destined for Namaqualand, but permission for his evangelical mission was refused by the Governor of the Cape for political reasons so Moffat went to Stellenbosch to learn Dutch instead. On 22nd September 1817 permission was given for Moffat to travel north of the Cape Colony. He stayed in Namaqualand for a little over a year before travelling for a lengthy stay at Griqua Town in August 1819 at the very time Campbell was visiting the Griquas for the second time.  His private letters, printed in a book in 1951, clearly reflect his negative views of John Campbell. 

In his detailed records of this trip by Campbell "Travels in South Africa, A second journey" published in 1822 Campbell makes absolutely no reference to the Griqua Town coins. In fact on page 56 of vol. one he refers to a Griqua teacher, Jan Hendrik, going to the market at Beaufort to barter ivory for articles that he wanted. In vol. two he discusses the use of rix dollars by the Griquas (pages 231, 264). Furthermore in Campbell's personally abridged book of his visit to South Africa in 1813 ("Journal of travels in South Africa" published in 1834 - see this link) he omits any reference to the minting of coins being discussed with the Griquas - as transcribed and claimed in his journal (Travels in South Africa - 1815). Importantly Campbell states  in this 1834 work that Regular trades cannot be said yet to exist in Griqualand.

On page 283 (of his book covering his second trip in 1819) Campbell suggests that it would take just a few pounds to establish a system of education for the Bushmen. Campbell is not alone as Moffat makes absolutely no mention of the existence or use of the Griqua Town coins either in his many journals and books!@

The mystery that is the Griqua Town coins is not their origin but their history following their alleged striking by Halliday (did he actually do so?)

There is no record of the numbers of Griqua Town coins minted just the occasional coin being put on sale through auctions linked to the fallacy that they were South Africa's first coinage in circulation. According to well-known S African numismatist Dr Frank Mitchell only one Griqua Town coin has been reported as being "found in South Africa".

The collection of Richard J Ford auctioned by Spink and Sons in May 1985 lists several pattern Griqua Town coins struck in copper while Parsons refers to gold specimens of the five and ten and a ½ and ¼ in gilt metal. The variations referred to by Parsons only further support the author's view that the Campbell coins were never actually used by the Griqua population as general usage coinage. It is more likely that they became a novelty item after they were discarded by London Missionary Society and were never even sent to South Africa.

The assertion that the Griqua Town coins were never circulated is further supported by the small number of largely illiterate Bastard adults who at best, "displayed the slightest traces of civilisation" following their expulsion from the Cape by the white man. Furthermore how could Campbell's coins, like the doomed 1868 Griqua note, even with the most romantic of notions, be introduced as currency as there was no basis on which the first coins could have been circulated and there was no store or outlet for them to be used in. Latest research reveals that they were patterns struck in about 1870.

We should therefore, not rely on Campbell's romantic ideals noted in his diary of his first trip in 1813 to jump to the conclusion that the Griqua Town coins were used as currency by the Griquas. The lack of reference to the Griqua Town coins by him and other Missionaries who stayed at Griqua Town reflect the futility of the ideal and the truth of the matter.

The author has no doubt that the beautifully plain design with the dove of peace flying with an olive branch in its mouth on one side and the words "Griqua Town" and the value displayed on the other side were never used as coinage but they did inspire other die makers - as you will see.

Notes to article above:

* Perpetuating the myth of the Griqua Town currency:

The myth of the Griqua Town coins being used by the people at Griqua Town can be linked directly to this article by Alexander Parsons - all references by researchers supporting the claim refer directly to it without any adequate research to check the facts. For example, J T Becklake in "From Real to Rand" accepts and quotes H A Parsons' flawed reasoning without question as does Verner Scaife in his 1962 work British Colonial Coins and Tokens (reprinted from the American Numismatic Association's "The Numismatist"). However well respected South African numismatist Dr Frank Mitchell in his article in "Antiques in South Africa" (1978) headed "The coinage of Griqua Town"  notes that the Griqua Town coins never circulated and were not used as coins by the Griquas.

µ No proof of the Griqua Town coins circulating in Griqua Town

A very serious South African numismatist, Daniel van der Laan, who has an extensive web site spent 2004, following the release of this book, "The Griquas of South Africa and their money", trying to find any evidence of the existence of the Griqua Town coins - this included researching old news papers and visiting Griqua Town.

He reports

Have been trying to find any evidence that the Griqua Town coins been used in and around Griqua Town for more than a year now and could not find any.

Looks like old Campbell was just a dreamer.

¢ The lack of education among the Griquas

Even one hundred years later in the late1920s, as can be seen in the scan of a copy of a testimonial by the Griqua John Dawes at this link, the Griquas could not read nor write - let alone count. Moffat in his letters published in "Apprenticeship at Kuruman" states on many occasions that there was no school for the Griquas and that they were, without exception, totally uneducated. 

ßThe rarity of the bronze pieces

Matthy Esterhuysen in her book "Munte en die Mens" (pg 11) claims that the silver coins were "melted down" when the attempt to circulate the coins was not a success and that the bronze coins are rarer than the silver coins because the Griqua preferred the shiny silver pieces. How she arrives at these conclusions is not explained or supported by any references.

In short, gobbldygook.

# The "Griqua reality" - the rise and fall of Griqua Town in the 1800s at this link

  • This description by Moffat reflects a transient people who, if anything, had gone backwards in all respects as a direct result of their displacement from the Cape by the white settlers, a tiny population in no position to use or have purpose for coinage. See relevant extracts of earlier comments describing the Hottentots in the Cape at these links Henry Secreta Zevorzit in 1673 and Gysbert Hemmy in 1767. What occurred was the continuing decimation of the Hottentot culture, firstly through the influence of the settlers and later through the influence of bandits who used Griqua Town as a base for attacks on the African people to the north. As you will see below the offspring were without direction, true leadership or desire to participate in any form of labour. They embraced the bad habits of the settlers while not adopting their work ethic to support the enjoyment of those weaknesses. 

    In October 1811 Burchell in vol one of his book Travel in the interior of South Africa states on page 361, The Koras and Bushmen (included in the missionary count of men, women and children living in Griqua Town) cannot be considered as belonging to the establishment, since they show no desire to receive the least instruction from the missionaries, nor do they attend their meetings, but continue to remove from place to place, a wild independent people. He states further on page 365, Hunting is the only employment at which they (the people at Griquatown) show any eagerness; and it, therefore, occupies the greatest part of their time. Burchell goes on to describe how the spoils of hunting such as ivory and other valuables were bartered for brandy and goods with the boers to the south.   

  • Burchell also notes at this time the run-down state of Klaarwater/Griquatown, The trees of my imagination vanished, leaving nothing in reality but a few which the missionaries themselves had planted; the church sunk to a barn-like building of reeds and mud; the village was merely a row of half a dozen reed cottages; the river was but a rill; and the situation an open, bare, and exposed place, without any appearance of a garden, excepting that of the missionaries.

    It would be very unfair towards those who have devoted themselves to a residence in a country, where they are cut off from communication with civilized society, and deprived of all its comforts, to attribute this low state of civilization and outward improvement, to a want of solicitude on their part. Their continual complaint, indeed, was of the laziness of the Hottentots, and of the great difficulty there had always been in persuading them to work, either on the buildings or in the garden; and in this complaint there was too much truth.

    Burchell's fuller description of Griquatown and a detailed drawing by him of the small village just before Campbell arrived can be seen at this link. 

  • Burchell describes the Griqua Town outpost of Ongeluks (Unlucky) Fountain and ALL other Hottentot settlements, thus...
    Its size, and the number of its inhabitants, are, like those of all Hottentot outposts, so fluctuating that sometimes the spot is quite deserted: nor does it seem that at any season, the least attempt at cultivation is ever made here; as the ground nowhere appeared to have been broken.
    Clearly Griqua Town, apart from the presence of the missionaries, was no different - hardly a community in which to "circulate currency".  

  • Nothing changed over the next thirty years - in the 1840s white hunter Cumming sung the same tune about their slothfulness stating on page 91,  They are, without exception, of an indolent disposition, and averse to hard work of any description; much of their time is spent in hunting, and large parties annually leave their homes and proceed with their waggons, oxen and horses on hunting expeditions into the far interior, absenting themselves for three to four months at a time. They are remarkable for their disregard of the truth, a weakness which I regret to state I found very prevalent in South Africa; they are also great beggars, generally commencing by soliciting "trexels", a trexel being a pound of tea or coffee.
  • Even in the early 1860s an observer who visited Mt Currie (after the Griquas moved to Nomansland) reflected that the plight of the Griquas had not changed when he reported, To our disgust and disappointment we found it (the laager) a very dirty place, consisting of about 200 mud huts, a few old wagons, and a lot of dirty Griquas sitting or lying outside their dens. A small church and a Fort in the middle of the village and Adam Kok's house at one end. Adding to the miserable appearance of the laager a number of the houses are only half built and allowed to remain with their four walls standing. It is indeed, as one of our party called it, a village in ruins before it was built. Source: A F Hattersley in the book "Later Annals of Natal"

  • The Cape Coloured People 1652-1932 by J S Marais notes that the influence of the London Missionary Society resident Griqua Town missionary, W Anderson, declined in 1814 and that there was no leader in the small settlement - Adam Kok II and Barends, the leading families, leaving to set up home at Campbell and Daniel's Kuil. Marais, the Professor of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, states that during this time 1815-1820 Griquatown became a ghost town with the few nomadic Griquas using the station as a temporary camp before moving on.

@ Campbell's other pertinent comments

Campbell's own abridged work on his first visit in 1834 OMITS any reference to the issue of coins being discussed with the Griquas - as claimed in the transcript of his journals published in 1815.

Campbell also notes that the entire Griqua "nation" in the district (including Lattakoo, Hardcastle and Campbell) in 1813 consisted of just:

  • 291 men,
  • 399 women,
  • 310 boys and
  • 266 girls

under 700 adults in the nation while the whole “Church or Christian Society” consisted of only 26 men and 16 women. This (very) largely illiterate “nation” possessed just 24 wagons with most of them are nearly worn out by use. The community had no trading store and was highly transient, embarking on lengthy hunting trips - their only form of "employment". Hardly a community ready for the introduction of circulating currency!

The image right shows a typical Griqua house and family in Griqua Town in 1834 (nearly 20 years after their alleged introduction of the Griquatown coins) - hardly a people ready to use or understand coinage. It is important to note that the Griquas did not have "pockets" and therefore the unholed Griqua Town coins were impractical and would have been easily lost if they had ever been used. It was for this reason that S Africa's first widely circulating currency (1874-1932), the trade tokens of Strachan and Company, were sensibly holed - so that the Griquas and Africans in Nomansland could string the coins around their necks with their beads. In fact, the Strachan and Co trade tokens were the first token coins to be holed - many "holed" tokens followed later.

NOTE: The author, Scott Balson, now firmly believes that the "Griqua Town coins" were probably minted between 1870 and  1890 - at the same time as the similarly designed Griqua "Penny Proofs" or Orange Free State pattern coins - and for the same reason... to provide the emerging Boer Republiek with samples of what the minting house could do.

In a letter (transcribed in "Apprenticeship at Kuruman" pp 193 and 194) to Moffat the Directors of the London Missionary Society make a pointed remark to Campbell's earlier foley over the "Griqua Town coins" when telling Moffat not to "embark on any costly projects without first getting their sanction" - their reference to the "former decisions made" and Campbell's forced resignation from his position as a Director of the London Missionary Society follow this aborted fanciful and costly escapade.

In the extracts from letters by Moffat below from the same source he makes many references to Campbell's flights of fancy...

Understanding Rev John Campbell the man

Moffat's private letters transcribed in "Apprenticeship at Kuruman" reveal a side of Campbell not well publicised... (note this book is widely available on the Internet for under US$100 if you have any doubts over the quotes listed below buy the book and see for yourself. The letters are held by the famous Oppenheimer Library).  

to Rev J Philip, Cape Town dated 19 September 1820 - states (pp6):

Campbell has a drinking problem: But I have also to add that when Mr Campbell used such harsh assertions, he had made to freely with Mr Wine or Mijn Heer Brandy. He is very quarrelsome at such seasons, and alas! such seasons are not few.

and, to Mr J Melville, Cape Town, January 1821 states (pp13):

Campbell's claims are not to be taken seriously: I may add that it is a pity that Mr Campbell does not know the present state of Latakoo. It would save him building so many castles in the air about the Maharootze nation...

and, to Alexander Moffat, Inverkeithing, 25th February 1822, states (pp 57)

Campbell tells lies: Mr Campbell, I see, in a Missionary Chronicle asserts that they have acquired correct notions of God etc.. etc.. Let me assure you that the authority he has it from is false. 

and, to James and Mary Smith, Dunkinfeld, 20th August 1822, states (pp 61)

Campbell is foul mouthed, weak and a drunkard: The leading subject in your last letter was highly amusing to us especially, who knew the man, and who have been his associates both in company and retirement, or, in other words, the city and the wilderness. It was not at all surprising; and it was often a matter of surprise to us how he came to be exalted to the high offices he filled. He is unquestionably a weak man, and from some paragraphs in yours we have no doubt but you have discovered his weakest part(getting drunk). It was no uncommon thing with him, when travelling with us, at certain seasons to get on his "Highland horsey and be lavish of foul names", but at those seasons all took flight, or was forgot after a good night's sleep. We had indeed much to bear, but maintained silence to our English friend, for the sake of the cause he has so prominently represented.

Rev John Campbell, by his own admission, often writes fantasy, not fact - source: Walks of Usefulness. He states in the introduction: Though I have presented these Walks of Usefulness to the public , I have to confess, with shame, that they describe in many instances, what might have been done, rather than what, in many cases, I have really done.

On his second trip to South Africa Campbell wrote to the LMS suggesting "that as beads were the circulating medium in Mashaw and Kurrechane, two Tswana villages in the north, the LMS should send the Missionaries a quantity of beads that might be exchanged for a 'great many elephants teeth' at both places." The LMS refused his request saying that to do so would be mercantile-like.

Campbell was openly ridiculed in letters by Robert Moffat (the missionary who stayed at Griqua Town when Campbell made his second visit).

Relevant extracts from Moffat's Letters - source: "Apprenticeship at Kuruman" (Oppenheimer Series):

to Rev G Burder, London dated 17 January 1820 states (pp3):

(pp3) The 600 Rixdollars of arrears, which the Directors were kind to present to those brethren who had not drawn their allowance (at Griquatown), I accepted, though with reluctance. I have also to add that, since I came to Africa, I have only had 805 Rds including the sum of 145 Rds for cattle.
The Griqua Town Coins were supposed to have been used by missionaries at Griqua Town in payment of their services - they never were.

At no time does Moffat make any comment about "Griqua Town" coins - either in his private correspondence or in his published works. The omission is the final nail in the fallacy of South Africa's first circulating indigenous coinage being the Griqua Town coins claimed to be used in 1815/16  

Theal (South Africa's most eminent historian) states this about Campbell's book:

"This book contains some information on general subjects, as well as a complete account of the missions of the London society. But the author's simplicity and credulity were so great that little reliance can be placed on anything that he describes which did not come under his own eyes. It is difficult to make out his Dutch, Korana and Setshuana proper names, as his ear was not good at catching sounds. There is a kindly tone throughout ... which compensates for many defects." [Theal's Catalogue of Books and Pamphlets relating to Africa].

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Feedback:

Hi Scott,

Received your new token book and eagerly devoured it! Well done!

Lots of new info that answers many key questions about the Griqua and leads one to search for more.

Keep in touch,

Rege Podraza, USA
(Rege Podraza is a major collector of Griqua coins)
Rege's web site

Dear Scott

The book will be a joy and a jealously guarded addition to my library. This boasts several thousand books and reference works, mostly on British coins - some going back to Cromwellian times - but, more importantly now, a belatedly burgeoning collection of reference works on our own series.

The illustrations are great. They add that little extra touch of class.

It's AWSOME, and thanks again.

Allyn Jacobs (S Africa)
(Allyn Jacobs is a major collector of Griqua coins and played a major research role in the publication of Hern's book on S African tokens)

Dear Scott

I finished reading your book last night. I enjoyed it and it is always nice to come across new information about the company. I always thought that the minting of the tokens was a shrewd business move but I never realised that they were so widely used in the Transkei. I wish I had read your book before printing mine as I would have made more of a fuss of the tokens. Thank you for the complimentary review of my book on your website. I enjoyed the homework pun! Your website makes the company live beyond 1984. It would be sad if all that history was forgotten.

Regards Milner
Trustee, Kokstad Museum

Hi Scott

Have been trying to find any evidence that the Griqua Town coins been used in and around Griqua Town for more than a year now and could not find any.

Looks like old Campbell was just a dreamer.

Keep up the good work Scott and stay in touch.

Regards

Daniel
About South Africa

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Bullet Point Summary of over 30 Key Points exposing the Griqua Town coin fallacy

The National Numismatic Society (Gauteng, South Africa) President Peter Wilson (who has a couple of Griquatown coins and gave a talk about them in March 2005) and Secretary Brian Hern (who writes books about coins) withheld a letter written by Scott Balson to the general membership in 2005 discussing the points below. The letter was "considered" by the society's committee and never even acknowledged. We know that the committee discussed the facts presented to them because we hold an email from Peter Wilson confirming this fact. Both Wilson and Hern stick to the belief that these coins did circulate like currency at Griquatown over a period of two years (1815-16). Regardless of their personal opinions or financial interest in the pieces one would feel the letter should have been tabled for discussion with the membership.

Scan of the misleading extract out of the book recording Rev John Campbell's first visit to South Africa (1813) that is constantly referred to by numismatists.

This fantasy is predicated on this statement "supposing a shop (first) to be established amongst them, which they were anxious that there should be - (then) they should apply to the Missionary Society" (ie used on the same basis of the success of the Strachan & Co currency tokens). My additions clarifying basis shown in brackets and in red.

Without a shop how would they have traded the coins? There was no shop at Griquatown until decades later! There would have been no request from the people or the resident missionary to the London Missionary Society. The Griquatown "coins" were never anything more than novelty pieces and were NEVER used as coins by the Griqua.  

Read below to see that any claim they were currency is ridiculous.

(to see the controversial "Griqua Town coins" click on image right)
The Cape Coloured People 1652-1932 by J S Marais, is a lengthy and well researched work (over 60 books referenced). The book includes a detailed report on the Griquas at Griqua Town (Chapter II pgs 32-73) but makes no reference to any coinage being used there. Marais, the Professor of History at the University of the Witwatersrand, refers at length to Campbell's book and the meeting where the Bastards adopted the name "Griqua", incorporated new laws and in which Campbell mentions the idea of coins. It is clear that Marais had, by his omission, completely discounted the theory that Griqua Town coins had ever circulated at Griquatown. This observation is supported by Marais' own commentary in the book that between 1814 and 1820 Griqua Town was a "ghost town".

          Who funded the minting of the Griqua Town Coins?

  1. Rev John Campbell could not afford to fund their minting.

  2. The London Missionary Society (LMS) refused to have anything to do with the coins and told Campbell that they did not want to get involved in "mercantile-like" activities.

  3. Campbell, as a Director of the LMS, would not have gone against their rulings if he had he would have been stood down, he wasn't. 

  4. In Campbell's own words his suggestion for these coins was predicated on there FIRST being a shop at Griquatown (see above) there was not until decades later.

    The "1815/16" Griqua Town coins... were actually 1870 patterns with no demonstrable relevance to South African numismatics at all.

  5. There is no date on these coins, this is common to patterns and token coins - no one is sure when they were minted.

  6. There is no identifiable denomination on the coins (like other South African patterns of this time)

  7. The bronze pieces are as rare or rarer than the silver pieces - common to pattern issues and making the concept of giving change a nonsense

  8. There are several records of the Griqua Town coins being struck in other metals like gold and even others with a value of "100" - common to patterns - see images right and below.

  9. Trade token coins issued in South Africa from 1860 (Durban Club) to 1932 all carried values based on British currency - 3d, 6d, 1/- and 2/-.

    Practical issues with the Griqua Town coins

  10. The gap between the "IIIII" in silver and the 1/2 in bronze requires ten coins to change one silver - a nonsense, no currency has a gap this big

  11. There was no store at Griquatown in 1815/16

  12. There was no bank at Griquatown in 1815/16

  13. There was nothing on which to base their introduction into the community

  14. The London Missionary Society's resident missionary at Griquatown, Anderson, would not have gone against the ruling of his directors and circulated the pieces.

  15. The entire "trade" of the Griquas (spread throughout the region) was worth only ZAR100 per annum - even this figure (by Campbell's own admission is exaggerated). Reference to trade claim "From Barter to Barclays" by Eric Rosenthal.

  16. Even Campbell noted in his second trip in 1821 that regular trades did not exist in Griquatown

  17. All trade in Griquatown at and after this time was by barter - as described in various reports by Missionaries and hunters
    Image right: The Griqua 100 Pattern in bronze

  18. Griqua Town was a "ghost town" in 1815/16 - the population scattered in 1814. Campbell confirms just under Griqua 700 adults spread across the entire region in 1813 BEFORE they scattered.

  19. The resident population of Griquatown scattered in 1814 and became nomadic after a major fall out with the missionary, Anderson. Less than 100 men, women and children remained. . See Rev Philips comments about this at this link.

  20. The coins were not holed so could not be carried with their beads around their necks - they would have been lost

  21. There is only one unverified record of a Griquatown coin "being found" in South Africa

    Lack of mention in contemporary records

  22. There is no contemporary written record of the coins ever circulating at Griquatown (not even by the Missionaries Moffat, Philip, the resident missionary Anderson, Livingstone or Campbell).

  23. Both Moffat and Campbell refer to Rix Dollars being occasionally accepted by Griquas when trading in the Cape before and after 1815/16

  24. In Campbell's 1834 personally edited journal of his first trip he omits any reference to the Griquatown coins (the 1815 book on Campbell's travels to South Africa is a transcript of his diary compiled on this same trip). His omission confirms the fantasy - details and scans at this link

  25. Not one Griqua met by Balson  know anything about these coins. (Balson has met with the leadership of all the main Griqua communities around S Africa in 2006 and 2007). The only leader to have heard about them was Waterboer at Griquatown and that is because of coin collectors approaching him in the past. (Griqua history is verbalised and past events are recorded in stories and fables passed down from father to son - none mention the Griquatown coins). 

  26. The Rev John Philip accompanied Rev John Campbell on his second trip to South Africa - having been in the country from the early 1810s. In Volume Two of his 1828 book "Researches in South Africa" he quotes the London Missionary Society's William Anderson verbatim at length. Anderson while describing life at Griquatown makes NO REFERENCE AT ANY TIME to the "Griquatown coins" (pg 57-62) during the key 1815-16 period. This evidence can be seen by going to Google Books at this link, searching on "Anderson" or the relevant extract copied to this website at this link.

    Campbell, the weak man, prone to drinking and fantasizing

  27. Moffat clearly slates Campbell as being a liar and "building castles in the air" and

  28. states that Campbell was a drunk who, in this state, would fantasize, eg the diary note about introducing coins

  29. Campbell admits he was prone to writing fantasy 

  30. The Quarterly Review (1815) slammed Campbell's book as nothing more than a largely inaccurate record of his trip. The 22 page review provides documentary evidence of lies and distortions in the work in which Campbell flags the idea of having coins made for the Griqua.   

    Interestingly, the use of the dove and olive branch image, the emblem of the London Missionary Society, was first used in the 1790s on token pieces issued for the London Corresponding Society (LCS) run by a group of individuals wanting to reform the British Parliament - more on LCS at Wikipedia. The two groups were closely aligned. These earlier tokens sell today for just a few dollars (see image right). 

    The inability of the Griquas to use them

  31. Without a store how and where would they have traded them?

  32. The Griquas were illiterate - could not read nor write - there was no school north of the Orange river

  33. The Griquas could not count - they would not have known what to do with the coins or how to use them. (Let's get real. How could a Griqua understand fractions? A large percentage of today's "educated" adult population doesn't!)

  34. The Griquas were inherently lazy and not industrious - their only activities were shepherding their livestock, hunting and barter.

  35. The entire male population in the region around Griquatown was just 291 in 1815, see points below, and this number fluctuated greatly as it was a transient population - many living off plunder and the chase.

  36. The Griquas would leave Griquatown and travel inland to other settlements for months at a time hunting and horse riding

  37. Between 1814-20, the very time the coins were supposed to be circulated in Griquatown, the settlement became a "ghost town" with just a few few nomadic Griquas using the station as a temporary camp before moving on.

  38. The only permanent resident at Griquatown in 1815/16 was the Missionary William Anderson, the only gardens those of the Missionary.

  39. As recorded by Rev Philip the Griqua lost trust in the London Missionary Society's resident missionary Anderson over the Cape Regiment fiasco in 1814.

  40. In 1812 BEFORE Griquatown became a ghost town it boasted just 25 traditional Griqua huts (made of branches and mud), three kraals for livestock, a Church, a Missionary store room (for produce harvested from the Missionary's garden) and the Missionary's mud house (see image below).

    How did fantasy become "fact"?

  41. All subsequent references to the Griquatown coins being "accepted as currency in Griqua Town in 1815/16" can be tracked back to just one article - by H A Parsons - republished from an earlier Spinks catalogue in 1927

  42. Many of Parson's assumptions made in this article have been shown on this page to be flawed and not based on fact

  43. Parson's research is extraordinarily poorly researched. He documents the limited (three) sources behind his work - naming only Moffat, Livingstone and Campbell (not his later work where he omits any reference to the coins). The all-telling drawing by Burchell, below, and Philip's telling observations were somehow overlooked.

  44. As recently as 2008 Brian Hern in his catalogue on South African coins continued to push the lie that the Griqua Town coins circulated in 1815/16. Hern is aware of this website and has never replied to the facts presented above. You can see Balson's responses to Hern's most recent claims at this link.

  45. The reason the points above are ignored by Messrs Hern etc.. are financial. If they were bona-fide numismatists they would either enter into a debate on this issue, do their own research in what has been raised here and rebut the evidence or accept that the whole thing is a hoax.  Spink have already accepted that Parsons was wrong.

If you are still not convinced then look at the drawing below of Griquatown as at June 1812 - a picture tells a thousand words. The drawing was undertaken by William Burchell on behalf on the Missionaries at Griquatown and is bound into his book "Travels into the Interior of South Africa" (See Volume One page 282)... click the thumbnail image below to see details... Moffat reports Griquatown as appearing the same ten years later - long after the Griqua Town coins were supposed to have circulated there "as currency".

Travels in the interior of South Africa - William Burchell

Extract pg 350-52 (volume one)

But the first glance now convinced me how false may oftentimes be the notions which men form of what they have not seen. The trees of my imagination vanished, leaving nothing in reality but a few which the missionaries themselves had planted; the church sunk to a barn-like building of reeds and mud; the village was merely a row of half a dozen reed cottages; the river was but a rill; and the situation an open, bare, and exposed place, without any appearance of a garden, excepting that of the missionaries.

Scott Balson's visits to Griquatown:


Burchell's 1812 drawing of Griquatown from his book

See Scott Balson's visit to Griquatown in 2006 where he photographs the small settlement today from half way up the watertank above the spot where Burchell drew this image.

See Scott Balson's visit to Griquatown in 2007 where, during his book launch of "Children of the Mist", he photographs the small settlement today from the top of the watertank above the spot this image by Burchell was drawn.

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'n Griekwa "Ietsigeit" - rare book by D H Van Zyl claims coins minted in 1874

The foreword of this book by E G Jansen tells us that van Zyl studied the Griqua and the Bushmen in the first half of the 1900s. The Internet and the foreword tells us that van Zyl was a Senator who accompanied an expedition in 1950 to "study and document how the bushmen lived".

What is know is that Senator van Zyl had a special interest in the Griqua - as reflected by the photos he took in Griquatown of the Waterboer family and other Griqua communities in the region. In his book he looked at their language, their humour, their lives and, interestingly, the "Griquatown coins".

On page 18 of his book van Zyl discusses the Griquatown coin controversy after speaking to the Griquas of Griquatown in the early 1900s - none knew of the pattern pieces. van Zyl says: "Byna gelyktydig met die verskyning van die Griekwa-mutstukke (1874) het ook die eerste Transvaal geld op die toneel verskyn, nl. die bekende Burgersponde." (translation: At about this time the Griqua coins (1874) and the first Transvaal coin appeared - the famous Burgerspond") - scan of extract below. The comment is accompanied by a photo of the Griquatown half piece.

More on this book at this link

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The argument by those who hang on to the belief the Griquatown coins circulated

The argument often given that the Griqua Town coins is their apparent "circulated" status as can be seen in this 1969 Bickels Coins and News extract.

In response to this furphy we would note the following:

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20 Key Points why the Trade Tokens of Strachan and Co were South Africa's
first widely circulating indigenous currency....
Full background supporting points below at this link


          What about the Griqua Town and Burgerspond?

  1. The story that the Griqua Town coins circulated in 1815/16 is a furphy (see above)

  2. There were very few gold Burgerspond pieces struck in 1874 and few circulated - being kept as keep-sakes

    Practical Evidence Supporting this Claim

  3. There was a dire shortage of change in Nomansland/East Griqualand up to the late 1800s and regular trades DID exist 

  4. There were up to 100,000 S&Co pieces struck in four identifiable sets over a period of 50 years to cater for demand (most of these tokens have since been destroyed) - See the coins at this link.

  5. The first two sets circulated for nearly 60 years between 1874 and 1932, with the later "In Goods" sets circulating for about 30 years

  6. Most S&Co trade tokens are well worn - reflecting their use over many years

  7. S&Co had trading stores spread across East Griqualand - these acted like "banks"

  8. The Standard Bank in Kokstad accepted and handed out the S&Co coins from its opening in 1878 - this is documented

  9. In a similar manner the trade tokens of James Cole were later accepted as currency across East Griqualand.

  10. Many other trading stores in this remote region tried to emulate the success of S&Co by introducing their own coinage - but few succeeded as the Africans only trusted the "kence" (S&Co trade tokens) - James Cole was the only exception. (There are more trade token varieties in East Griqualand than the whole of Natal - a much larger and more industrious region.)

  11. The S&Co were reported as being circulated as currency as far north as Pietermaritzburg in Natal and as far South as the north eastern Cape - an area the size of Ireland

  12. The small educated white population and the simple nature of change (3d, 6d, 1/- and 2/-) acted as a catalyst for an understanding of the value of the coins across the wider uneducated population in the region  

  13. The holing of the coins to facilitate storage on African necklaces

  14. The population in this region was about 100,000

    Reference in Contemporary Records, Documents and Books

  15. The Standard Bank refer in a historic booklet to accepting and handing out S&Co trade tokens in 1878 when they opened their branch at Kokstad

  16. There are many contemporary references to the trade tokens of Strachan and Co (S&Co) being released and circulated as currency from 1874

    The men behind the Strachan and Co Coinage

  17. The partners in S&Co, Strachan and Brisley, wielded enormous power in Nomansland/East Griqualand between 1860s and 1890s under both Griqua and Colonial British Governments

  18. Donald Strachan was revered by the Africans and called "Madonela" - a great honour (he even had his own private African army called the Abalandalozi). The Africans trusted him completely his greatest honour being chosen as the only white chief in the history of South Africa. In 1902 he was elected to the Cape Parliament representing East Griqualand under Dr Jameson (of Jameson Raid fame).

  19. Thomas Strachan was offered the post as Resident Magistrate by the Griquas.

  20. George Brisley was the trusted Griqua Secretary, Post Master, and successful trader in his own right from the very early days of Griqua settlement in Nomansland.

  21. No-one has ever presented any facts which dispute this claim 

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Related Links:

PDF of Standard Bank Document

Milner Snell's book on Strachan and Co
Margaret Rainier's book on "Madonela, Donald Strachan, Autocrat of Umzimkulu"

See also:

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