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2 Pounds
| Issuer | Paymaster, Border Scouts Upington |
|---|---|
| Year | 1902 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Pounds |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Emergency military scrip issued on a coarse linen or hessian fabric ground, with black letterpress text at top reading 'ISSUED BY PAYMASTER B.S. UPINGTON' and a circular Border Scouts seal vignette at left. The body carries a handwritten pay order 'Pay to bearer the sum of Two Pounds' with the denomination '£2' and a manuscript signature, all rendered in red ink, with a serial number and date '1.3.02' handwritten in the upper margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ISSUED BY PAYMASTER B.S. UPINGTON Pay to bearer The sum of Two Pounds for pay £2 |
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| Comments |
The Border Scouts were a colonial irregular unit raised during the Anglo-Boer War to police the Northern Cape frontier around Upington. When coin and conventional currency dried up in that remote district, the unit's paymaster resorted to issuing handwritten or locally produced obligations on whatever material was available — hence cloth rather than paper. Linen notes of this type were essentially IOUs backed by nothing more than the issuing officer's authority and the expectation of eventual reimbursement by the Crown.
Very few survive. The informality of production means each example is effectively unique in its manuscript details.