South African pound
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| South African pound pond (Afrikaans) |
|
| User(s) | South Africa |
|---|---|
| Subunit | |
| 1/20 | shilling |
| 1/240 | penny |
| Symbol | £ |
| shilling | s |
| penny | d |
| Plural | |
| shilling | pond (Afrikaans only) |
| penny | pence (English only) |
| Coins | |
| Freq. used | ¼d, ½d, 1d, 3d, 6d, 1s, 2s, 2½s |
| Rarely used | £½, £1 |
| Banknotes | 10/-, £1, £5, £10, and £100 |
| Central bank | South African Reserve Bank |
| Website | www.reservebank.co.za |
| This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete. | |
The pound was the currency of South Africa between 1825 and 1961.
The pound sterling became the standard currency of South Africa in 1825 and British coins and banknotes circulated. Before a unified South Africa, many authorities issued coins and banknotes in their own pound equivalent to sterling.
Contents |
[edit] Pre-union
[edit] Republic of South Africa
Republic of South Africa, a Boer state in Transvaal, not to be confused with modern day Republic of South Africa, issued notes from 1867 to 1902 and coins from 1892 to 1900. Its issuance included gold coins inscribed "een pond" ("one pound").
[edit] Cape of Good Hope
The government issued a 1 pound note in 1835 and a 20 pound note in 1834.
[edit] Union of South Africa
In 1920, the Treasury issued gold certificate note. In 1921, the South African Reserve Bank was established as only authority to issue notes. The South African pound remained equal to the pound sterling throughout its existence. It was decimalised in 1961 and replaced by the rand, at a rate of 2 rand = 1 pound.
[edit] Coins
Coins were first struck in 1923, in ¼, ½, 1, 3, 6 pence, 1, florin (later denominated as 2 shilling), 2½ shillings, ½ sovereign (later as ½ pound), and 1 sovereign (later as 1 pound). In 1947, a 5 shilling was issued, with occasional commutative variants. These denominations had been issued until 1960. The ½ and 1 pound coins were made of gold and minted in small quantity.
All the coins had the British monarch on observe, with the titles in Latin, while the reverse had the values and "South Africa" written in English and Afrikaans.
[edit] Banknotes
All banknotes were also bilingual, English and Afrikaans. The last series of banknotes was issued between 1948 to 1959 in 10/-, £1, £5, £10, and £100. All denominations came in two variants: English written first and Afrikaans written first.
[edit] References
- Tables of modern monetary history: South Africa
- Albert Pick (1996). in Neil Shafer, George S. Cuhaj, Colin R. Bruce II (editors): Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues to 1960, 8th ed., Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-469-1.
- (2004) in Chester L. Krause, Cliffor Mischler, Colin R. Bruce II, et al. (editors): Standard Catalog of World Coins: 19th Century 1801-1900, 4th ed., KP Books. ISBN 0-87349-798-8.
