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Strachan & Co

Category: Token & Medals

Owner: morganthebrave

Last Modified: 4/16/2024

Set Description
Complete set of all tokens from Strachan & co (south African Merchants in the late part of the 1800's). The set excludes the three known Z pattern and the latest type D2. The S&Co were the first recognized currency token of South Africa.
Research information obtained from Mrs E.J. Maynard and MTB Numismatic Pocket guide (S&Co) 2016/17
Current coding = E.J. Maynard
Type A = Type II
B = Type III
C = Type I
D = Unidentified Type I variety

Set Goals
Obtain grades in AU.

Slot Name

Origin/Country

Item Description

Full Grade

Owner Comments

Pics

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

2/- (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582a PIERCED STRACHAN & CO

NGC XF 45

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

2/- (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582a PIERCED STRACHAN & CO MORGAN CARROLL COLLECTION

NGC AU 55

CURRENCY TOKENS DEFINITION:
A currency token is a coin that is issued by a company but also recognized as currency for payment of
taxes, general purchases etc by the Government where it is issued. There is therefore a convergence
between tokens and currency.
This was often a measure that resulted from a severe shortage of money or the Government’s inability to
issue its own coinage. In effect the issuing institution behind the tokens becomes the regional bank.
A typical example of this is the Strachan and Company trade tokens of East Griqualand in South Africa
which was used in the regions as a currency token for almost sixty years.

STRACHAN & CO.
The currency tokens of Strachan and Company (S&Co) believed to be minted in Birmingham, Great
Britain; were circulated as the first indigenous currency in East Griqualand (Nomansland) and South Africa
between 1874 to annexation in 1878.
After annexation in 1878 the Standard Bank of South Africa started operating out of a tent in Kokstad,
South Africa. Because there was no small change in that remote corner of South Africa the Bank accepted
and distributed S&Co tokens as local currency for many years. This is confirmed in Kokstad Bank’s 125th
anniversary booklet. From historical archives, we know that the late Judge Tom Mullins bought about
five Pounds worth of S&Co tokens from the Magistrates Court in Umzimkhulu in the 1930’s when he was the residing Magistrate. The S&Co tokens had been accepted by the court in the payment of fines which
included the latest “IN GOODS” S&Co tokens issued in the early 1900’s. Interestingly the coins were
not “officially recognized” as currency after East Griqualand was annexed (against the will of the Griqua
people) by Great Britain in 1878 but continued to trade as a currency token.
It was only in the late 1800’s when the first “IN GOODS” came out that the currency of Great Britain started
filtering through the community – mainly among the European Settlers.
The S&Co were an immediate success in the remote area of East Griqualand and beyond its borders –
across an area the size of Ireland.
Back then it took two weeks for ox and wagon to get from Durban to Umzimkhulu.
The first set to come out were the S&Co which was issued in 1874 and soon followed (c1878) by the
S&Co MH (Mountain Home). The MH were issued for a particular store and are extremely rare. These
two sets were the first tokens to circulate as currency and are South Africa’s first real indigenous currency
– i.e. Issued for use as money by the general population in a specific region of South Africa. Donald
Strachan’s partner in the stores in the 1870’s was George Brisley – the Secretary to the Griqua Raad –
before annexation in 1878. The tokens were accepted by the Griqua Raad in payment of taxes, for land,
etc, between 1874 and 1878. The 25 S&Co stores spread across East Griqualand were the de facto bank
used by the people.
The first set of “IN GOODS” (the older set with the straight “&” tail) was minted in the late 1800’s and the
last set (with the curved “&” tail) in the early 1900’s. The addition of the words reflected the change in use
from currency to a token that could be only exchanged in the store for goods.
The native tribes of South Africa continued to circulate the S&Co tokens far and wide until 1932 when all
tokens were officially outlawed by Government legislation. The coins were called “kence” by the indigenous
people which is the onomatopoeia of the noise made by two S&Co coins striking together while hung
around their neck.
An estimated 100,000 S&Co were minted over a period of approximately 40 years.
The grand majority of tokens were melted down after they were withdrawn from circulation in 1932. The
remaining tokens (about 20,000) were sadly melted down for their brass in the late 1980’s by Ken Strachan,
the last General Manager of the S&Co trading empire. The money raised from the brass coins melted went
to a church fund in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Note: The Griquatown tokens have been omitted as a currency token as there is no proven record of a
single Griquatown token circulating, and if it had it would have purely been as a token and not a currency
token recognized by a Government body.
“The Griquatown tokens are often referred to in numismatic books as South Africa’s first indigenous
circulating currency. They are not, they were issued by the Missionaries as tokens. Furthermore, there
is no record from that time of a single Griquatown token ever circulating although they did indeed arrive
at the remote outpost, most probably with Reverend Campbell on his second trip, circa 1820. They were
unsuccessful and repatriated to England a couple of years later. The reason they were unsuccessful
reflects the devil in the detail overlooked by Parson and others. In John Campbell’s widely quoted book
on his first trip where he talks about introducing coins (1813) he says they might work “if there was a local
trading store where they could be exchanged”. There never was back then in Griquatown. The reason the
S&Co succeeded was simple – the stores were the bank where coins could be exchanged for goods if and
when required.” Scott Balson.
The book “Mission at Griquatown 1801-1821” published in 1997 by Karel Schoeman. A transcript of
Griquatown Missionary records c1817, refers specifically to the request by the resident Missionary (Helm)
to mint tokens. This is years after the Griquatown tokens were supposed to have already circulated and
had been withdrawn according to many accredited books on South African coinage.

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

2/- (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582a PIERCED STRACHAN & CO

NGC VF Details

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

6D (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582c PIERCED STRACHAN & CO

NGC VF 20

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

1/- (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582b PIERCED STRACHAN & CO

NGC VF 25

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

3D (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582d PIERCED STRACHAN & CO

NGC VF 30

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

6D (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582c PIERCED STRACHAN & CO MORGAN CARROLL COLLECTION

NGC AU 58

NUMISMATIC DETAILS OF THE STRACHAN AND COMPANY TOKENS
(a) General
There is no record of the separate minting of Strachan and Company tokens. There are four distinct types,
each in the denominations 3D, 6D, 1/-, and 2/-. The four types are designated A, B, C, and D.
Type A was clearly the most worn variety, and hence the oldest. They were originally minted as local
currency through the trading company performing similar type duties of that of a bank.
The MH variety was solely to satisfy the desires of an independent-feeling shareholder Mr. Rupert Jackson
who ran the Mountain Home store.
The S&Co thus preceded the more widely accepted and sought after John Sidney Clunies-Ross IV
currency tokens of the Cocos Islands, issued in the early 1900’s, by about forty years.
It was only in the late 1800’s that a shift in emphasis towards barter tokens led to the addition of the
qualifying words “In goods” to the later S&Co issues, types C and D. Type D was clearly the most recent
issue, many of the specimens handled being almost in uncirculated condition. The “MH” variety, type B,
was minted specifically for use in the mountains nine miles from the town Umzimkhulu, South Africa.
Judging from the extent of wear of the specimens handled, we believe that the designations Types I, II, and
III used by E.J. Maynard in her description of three of the four types (Tokens of Southern Africa, by E.J.
Maynard) were the first to circulate.

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

3D (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582d PIERCED STRACHAN & CO MORGAN CARROLL COLLECTION

NGC XF 45

Attached is the 1 in 4 actual specimen griqua banknotes that was proposed but never circulated. The banknote is the only one of its kind not cut. All the other known 3 have been cut to fit into a book.

See: tokencoins.com

View Coin

Type A (Maynard Type II)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

1/- (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582b PIERCED STRACHAN & CO MORGAN CARROLL COLLECTION

NGC XF 45

View Coin

Type B (Maynard Type III)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

1/- (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582f PIERCED STRACHAN & CO MORGAN CARROLL COLLECTION

NGC XF 40

View Coin

Type B (Maynard Type III)

SO.AFRICA - HERN TOKENS

1/- (UNDATED) S.africa HERN-582f PIERCED STRACHAN & CO MORGAN CARROLL COLLECTION

NGC XF 40

View Coin