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 number Denomination Commissie Colour PS701 1 Shilling 1 Penny Black --- 1 Shilling and Sixpence 1 Penny Bright Blue PS702 2 Shillings and Sixpence 1 Penny Bistre-brown PS703 5 Shillings 1 Penny Olive-green PS704 7 Shillings and Sixpence 2 Pence Yellow-orange PS705 10 Shillings 2 Pence Turquoise-blue PS706 12 Shillings and Sixpence 3 Pence Brown-red PS707 15 Shillings 3 Pence Deep blue PS708 17 Shillings and Sixpence 3 Pence Red-orange PS709 20 Shillings 3 Pence Reddish-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.
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