The unique history of the 1 pound bank note of Griqualand-East is closely bound to the fate of the Griqua people in South Africa, In the course of their history the diverse Griqua tribes separated and became independent.
After several stages, many hardships and conflicts with local aborigines, the eastern tribe under the leadership of their Kapitains Adam Kok III., settled in c. 1863 in the area of Mount Currie. With the help of the Reverend William Dover, a church was built by the Umzimhlava River and together with the adjacent houses a community was founded, that was named in honour of their tribal chief Kokstad. Fourteen years later in 1877, the Cape Colony incorporated the small town and Griqualand-East lost its independence.
In 1867 the Griqua-Raat composed of 12 representatives of the population decided to issue a bank note in value of 1 Pound (Pond). Following the decision, 20'000 notes were printed in Cape Town and were brought to Kokstad by a reliable citizen named Donald Strachan. A concerned Raats-Secretary warned not to bring the notes in circulation, because the Griquas could hardly keep their promise to exchange the notes in ten years. The bank notes remained in Donald Strachan's safe for a long time. Ten years later Griqualand-East was no longer independent and the bank notes worthless.
About the year 1900 Reverend Dover, who was still the head of the Kokstad Church, planned to write a book about the Griquas and contacted Donald Strachan, who was to write a chapter about the bank notes. He planned to place/glue an original note into each of the 100 books. In 1902 the book went to press, the notes were included and the remaining 19'900 notes were burned.
The book was no success. After a short time the book was heavily criticized by the Griquas because the Reverend did not write only positive aspects about the history of this small tribe. Remaining letters to the editor in the local newspapers show the anger about the not so complimentary text. The populace was so angered that a group of citizens broke into the church one night where the books were stored and burned them in front of the building. Thus the majority of the remaining 100 bank notes went up in flame.
It is not known how many books had been sold in the meantime. It can only have been a small amount. Six books with bank notes are in South African museums, two or three notes are in private hands.
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