Victorian-era Patterns of South Africa
Were they mere fantasy coins?
Pierre H. Nortje (December 2025)
Introduction
According to Hern’s Handbook on South African Coins & Patterns, pattern coins (he also calls them salesman’s samples) were struck for the Cape of Good Hope, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek) and Griqua Town during late Victorian times.
In this paper, we will look at the issue of whether they were truly patterns or mere fantasy coins struck for the collectors' market during the late 1800s.
Pattern Coins
A pattern coin serves as a prototype, a proof of concept struck to evaluate the design, composition, or technical aspects of a coin before the final product is approved for mass production. The patterns can be struck on request of the country or entity that wishes to eventually circulate the coins, or a mint can strike them and then present them to the country or entity to solicit business, hoping that an order for their mass production as circulating coins will be received.
The Cape of Good Hope (Cape Colony) Issues
The pattern pennies of the Cape of Good Hope of 1889 are well-recorded. In Hern’s Handbook, eight varieties are catalogued that were struck in two basic designs showing minor differences. The one shows the head of Queen Victoria on the obverse, while the reverse shows the coat-of-arms of the Cape Colony with the words “Cape of Good Hope” and the date 1889. The other one has a different obverse showing “1 Penny” between a bouquet of laurel leaves.
Source: Heritage Auctions
Hern says that the Cape of Good Hope patterns were stuck in 1889 (or at least dated to that year) by the family firm of Ludwig Christian Lauer of Nuremberg, Germany who also made patterns for the Orange Free State, Transvaal and Griqua Town on commission of another German firm, Otto Nolte & Co. Some sources says that Lauer only made the dies and the coins were actually struck by Otto Nolte & Co. Unfortunately, during the Second World War, the archives of the Lauer firm were totally destroyed in 1944, so detailed information on this matter is probably lost forever.
The Orange Free State issues
Hern notes that pennies were struck carrying the dates 1874 and 1888, as well as a Crown (5/-) dated 1887 with minor varieties of these. The coins were struck in aluminium, bronze, nickel-plated and silver. Crown pieces exist overstamped for the Imperial British East Africa Company with the date 1888. There is also a 2-pence mule dated 1874, which was struck with a Transvaal reverse and a Free State obverse.
On some of these pattern pennies, the word “muntsproeve” is displayed (as is the case on some of the Transvaal issues), while some of the Crown varieties show the word “Essay”.
Source: Numista
In his book From Real to Rand (1963:18), J.T. Becklake refers to a previous author (Prof. E.H.D. Arndt) who wrote that Otto Nolte & Co submitted some of these patterns to the Free State government in 1887 with the costs involved, and again, 19 months later, “six specimens” were sent, but no further action was taken.
The Transvaal (ZAR) issues
These issues can be broadly categorized into two groups: -
The first were patterns for the Burgerspond of 1874 that were struck in England by Messrs. Heaton and Sons with official dies. See the bronze pattern below, verified by NGC.
Source: NGC
The second group are those that were struck in Europe, most probably at a later stage despite their dates. Of these, some of the patterns carry the effigy of President Burgers and are dated 1874, and others the coat of arms of the ZAR, with the denomination and date being either 1874 or 1890. Hern records the following denominations: Pennies of 1874 and 1890, a 2-Pence, Half-crown (2/6-), Crown (5/-), 2-pound (£2) and 5-pound (£5) all dated 1874. Various specimens in different metals exist, e.g. Aluminium, bronze, silver, copper/gilt, etc.
Source: Numista
Hern says that those patterns that were struck on the continent (not England) were ordered by Otto Nolte of Berlin (as agents). He speculates that, according to some sources, those that are dated 1874 were made in Brussels, Belgium, by Wurden, and those dated 1890 by Wolfgang Lauer of Nuremberg.
The Griquatown issues
Griquatown, situated in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, was originally known as Klaarwater, where the London Missionary Society established a mission station in the early 1800s in what was essentially a no-man's-land then. In later years, the area, named Griqualand West, was colonised by Great Britain, and Kimberley served as its capital from 1873 to 1880 when it was annexed to the Cape Colony.
The reader is reminded that tokens were struck for circulation in Griquatown in the early 1800s by the London Missionary Society, but these issues have no relevance to the penny patterns that were made in late Victorian times. Of these, two bronze varieties are known, one bearing the date 1890 and the other dateless.
Source: Numista
According to Hern, Otto Nolte of Berlin acted as agents in having these pieces struck in 1890, while Wolfgang Lauer of the firm Münzprägeanstalt L. Chr. Lauer at Nuremberg prepared the dies.
Some Comments
In a few of their pattern listings by the Classical Numismatic Group, LLC (e.g. a Pattern penny & 2-pence of the Orange Free State), the website reports: -
This interesting piece is part of a now mostly forgotten series of fantasy patterns produced by Lauer and others in the late 19th century. While some contemporaries, such as the English dealer Daniel F. Howorth, welcomed these pieces, others felt they were deceitful. American numismatist Lyman Low was particularly outraged, calling the patterns fraudulent. He wrote in The Numismatist, “It is noticeable that they purport to belong principally to obscure and unimportant countries where detection would be comparatively difficult. Any attempt to issue such pieces elsewhere would contravene the coinage laws and involve penalties... The entire list given by Mr. Howorth may, in my opinion, be pronounced a sham, and I heartily agree with him in classifying them as ‘apocryphal,’ and echo his words of warning against them. The few we have published will be withdrawn from our lists and catalogues. For further information, see Courtney L. Coffing, “Apocryphal coins shed bad names,” in Coin World, 12 January 1977, p. 64-67.”
Picture of American numismatist Lyman H. Low and one of his coin price lists of 1882. (Sources: The E-Sylum and flickr.com)
With the help of the webmaster of the WCNS, Derick Rabe, we were able to access this article by Coffing. The first sentence of his article reads, “Apocryphal coins? Fantasies? Questionable coins? Tokens? A sham?”
He says that the pieces in question began to appear in numbers in about 1890 and were offered through many dealers in the United States. New York dealer Lyman H. Low offered them in his lists and catalogues until he had second thoughts about them and recanted.
According to Coffing, numismatist Daniel F. Howorth berated the issues in the July 1892 issue of The Numismatist, under the head, “Apocryphal Coins." He wrote that among the coins which are offered for sale in the lists of even the most respectable dealers, there are some of which the collectors should be very dubious; many of them, if not all, being simply struck for sale. “The want of authentic information about these may mislead many, especially young collectors, and I therefore wish to call attention to these in the pages of The Numismatist …”
Coffing writes that dealer Lyman H. Low was of the opinion that it is noticeable that they purport to belong principally to obscure and unimportant countries, where detection would be comparatively difficult. Any attempt to issue such pieces elsewhere would contravene coinage laws and involve penalties.
In the article, a list of 41 of these coins is given, and those from South Africa are the following: -
Cape of Good Hope Penny 1889
Griquatown Penny (no date)
Griquatown Penny 1890
Orange Free State Penny 1874
Orange Free State Penny 1888
Orange Free State Kroon 1887
South Africa Penny 1890
Transvaal (no denomination but probably referring to the Penny above)
Our comments
Despite the opinions of various numismatists quoted in Coffing’s article, we know that at least some of the Orange Free State issues were indeed struck as patterns in the true sense of the word, as they were presented to the government of the day to consider them for mass production for future circulation. Lauer probably struck more than was necessary (probably on request), and these were sold to coin dealers.
However, the Griquatown issues are without doubt fantasy coins and not patterns: Who would ask Otto Nolte in Berlin to act as agents to supply them with pattern coins in 1890 for a territory that ceased to exist as a bona fide governing entity 10 years earlier in 1880? Who could approve the patterns to be struck as official coins then, and who would pay for their production if the go-ahead was somehow given? Only the Cape Colony would have the authority, but they obviously did not, and there are, in any case, no records that prove that the patterns were either requested or presented to the Cape authorities for consideration. Why would they, in any case, request patterns or be offered patterns for a territory that did not officially exist?
Regarding the Cape of Good Hope and Transvaal issues, we could find no record that they were presented to the respective governments as patterns for consideration, as was the case with the Orange Free State issues. But even if they were, like the Griquatown “patterns”, purely fantasy coins, it is not all doom and gloom for current collectors of these pieces.
“Pattern” pieces from Columbia and Liberia, both dated 1890 (Source: Numista)
In his article, Coffing quotes a professional numismatist, William B. Christensen from Madison, N.J., who wrote that the private patterns for various countries are indeed an interesting subject. He says that some of them were undoubtedly serious efforts by private Mints to interest foreign governments in a coinage contract, while others were no doubt struck principally or entirely for the collectors' market.
“Time has, indeed, given them respectability. They are well struck, attractive and scarce and form a valid adjunct to the collection of the coinage of a given country. There has been enough hanky-panky at official government Mints regarding patterns and the restrike thereof to make the sins of the 80 years ago seem small by comparison”.