Victorian-era Patterns of South Africa

Pattern Coinage of the Orange Free State

Pierre H. Nortje (February 2026)

Introduction

Early in the 19th century, the semi-nomadic pastoral farmers of Dutch descent, called trekboers, began to settle the area that would become known as the Orange Free State. In 1836, the so-called Great Trek started with larger numbers of Boer farmers seeking freedom from British rule and moved north across the Orange River. Twelve years later, in 1848, Great Britain annexed the territory between the Orange and Vaal rivers, proclaiming it the Orange River Sovereignty.

For various reasons, the British proved unable to build an orderly administration and withdrew in 1854, relinquishing their sovereignty. Upon this, the local Boer settlers formed the independent Orange Free State.

Source: BBC and Wikimedia

When the Anglo-Boer War started in 1899, the Orange Free State sided with Paul Kruger’s South African Republic against Great Britain. The next year, the British forces occupied Bloemfontein and the Orange Free State was annexed by Britain as the Orange River Colony. The war only ended two years later in 1902, and the Peace of Vereeniging officially ended the independence of both the Orange Free State and the South African Republic.

Money Matters in the Free State (1854-1900)

In 1865, the Volksraad of the OFS issued a total of £30 000 in £1 notes, followed up the next year by £100 000 worth of various denominations up to the £20 note. In his book, Money in South Africa, C.L. Engelbrecht (1987:58) tells us that the merchants of the Cape Colony were reluctant to accept these notes, resulting in the draining of the country of all its hard currency (coins of Great Britain) still in circulation. This, in turn, forced the local businesses, even the banks, to issue their own good-for notes and token coinage. No official coins were ever struck for the Orange Free State.

Daniel & Hayman Bloemfontein 2/- token of 1867. Source: Author's own library.

The Patterns

This section of the paper is largely based on information provided in Professor E.H.D. Arndt's book Banking and Currency Development in South Africa (1652-1927), which was published in 1928.

When the Free State government issued a total of £30,000 in notes in 1865 (as we have stated before), there was a further need for money. After considering the possibility of coinage for the country, the idea was dropped, and a further £100,000 in notes was issued in 1866. A few years later, in 1870, the government again considered its own Free State coinage: it was to raise a loan of £150,000 payable in bars of gold, silver, and bronze. These bars would then be struck into coinage bearing the OFS coat of arms. A major advantage of this proposal would be that the coins would probably not leave the country, as they were not of the same standard as the coins of Great Britain and were not legal tender in the Cape Colony and Natal.

The idea was dropped, but seven years later, in 1877, the Chairman of the Raad proposed that a loan of £90,000, secured from England, be used for striking Free State coinage. The proposal did not materialise. As late as 1898, two years before the British forces occupied Bloemfontein under Field Marshal Lord Roberts, the issue was raised again but was dropped for the last time.

Regarding the pattern coinage, in 1887, the firm Otto Nolte & Co. of Berlin offered to supply the Free State government with silver and copper coins as follows:

Silver crown pieces, 925 content, 28 grams in weight, 39 mm in diameter, according to present model, or a new one to be agreed upon, per piece at a cost of 4 marks.
½ crown pieces, content as above @ 2 marks each.
1/5 crown pieces (shillings thus) content as above @ 0.8 mark each.
1/10 crown pieces (sixpences thus) content as above @ 0.4 mark each.
Copper penny pieces, size 30 mm, per 1000 @ 40 marks.
Copper ½ penny pieces, size 25 mm, per 1000 @ 21 marks.
Copper ¼ penny pieces, size 20 mm, per 1000 @ 11 marks.

Sketches were enclosed of the proposed patterns, and the company said that they were prepared to make alterations. It is not clear if a crown pattern was enclosed or what exactly the words "according to present model, or a new one to be agreed upon" mean. Arndt says that the document reads (in Dutch) "In de tegenwoordigen of volgens nieuw overeengekomen stempel" We speculate that a physical crown pattern was indeed presented, and Arndt seems to confirm this.

Nineteen months later, the Volksraad had still not responded to Otto Nolte & Co., whereupon the company forwarded six patterns to the President, informing him, "We hope that these models will meet with your approval, and while we again point to the important advantage which your government would derive from its own coinage through ordering, we flatter ourselves with the hope of receiving a favourable reply soon". However, the Volksraad decided against it.

In our opinion, with a good chance that a crown pattern piece was already forwarded to the government in 1887, the six pieces provided 19 months later were a half-crown, shilling, sixpence in silver, and a penny, halfpenny, and quarter penny in copper. Of these, it would seem that only specimens of the crown and the penny survived, with the whereabouts of the others, as well as the sketches, unknown to this day.

Hern’s Handbook on South African Coins and Patterns

Hern notes that pennies were struck carrying the dates 1874 and 1888 with varieties of these in terms of their metal content, inscriptions, weight and size, as well as a crown (5/-) dated 1887. A crown piece of 1887 exists that is overstamped “I.B.E.A. Co” for the Imperial British East Africa Company. 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 while the crown shows the word “essay”.

According to Hern, Otto Nolte of Berlin acted as agents in having these pieces struck while Wolfgang Lauer of Nuremberg prepared the dies. Regarding the actual striking of the coins, he says that according to some sources, the 1874 dates were struck at the Würden Mint in Brussels, while the 1888 dates were probably struck at the Berlin Mint. Numista is of the opinion that Otto Nolte of Berlin (the agents) struck the coins themselves, with Wolfgang Lauer being the engraver. We will come back to this issue later in this paper.

Source: Numista

The Pennies

We have used four sources to identify the various varieties of the penny issues: Hern's Handbook, MTB South African Graded Coins, Numista, and the population reports of the Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC).

Regarding the 1874 date, at least 2 varieties are confirmed: the “normal” issue struck in bronze and a triple piedfort (struck on a treble thick flan) also in bronze. Of the former, NGC has graded 47 coins in MS and 23 in proof, while for the latter, 1 in MS and 2 proofs (one must accept that collectors sometimes send the same coins more than once for grading, so the figures are not always correct).

The 1874 penny is not recorded in any other metal than bronze. On the obverse, at the bottom on the sides of the postal or bugle horn is a tiny face and lion mint marks. (On some of the ZAR patterns, a bee and griffin's [or lion’s?] head are shown). It is not known whose mint marks these are, but we believe they are fantasy and nonsensical marks.

According to the MTB catalogue, a very rare variant exists showing a coat of arms similar to the 1888 coin. If such a coin exists, it should look as follows (with an 1874 date), but we have not been able to locate an actual example.

Regarding the 1888 date, two varieties exist in terms of the coat of arms depicted - the so-called plain shield and the elegant shield. See the picture below with the elegant shield showing an indentation on both sides.

Sources: Numista and NGC.

NGC has graded 42 elegant shields (bronze) in MS and 19 in proof, while for the plain shield in bronze, 69 coins have been graded - all being proofs. The second variety in bronze is the so-called “LLC” issue, where the initials seen on the obverse of the coin refer to the die engraver, Ludwig Christian Lauer.

Except for a double piedfort (also spelt piefort) recorded by NGC, all the other varieties are non-bronze issues. MTB records issues in silver, aluminium, and nickel, while Hern refers to the last-mentioned as a nickel-plated coin. NGC has graded specimens in silver, cupro-nickel, and nickel-plated. Numista also records an aluminium variety. The following pictures from their website - from left to right: aluminium, nickel-plated, and silver. Note the "LLC" initials on the nickel-plated issue in the middle.

On all the 1888 pennies, there is a small "V" mint mark at the bottom of the obverse, also showing on some of the Cape of Good Hope and ZAR patterns. We were unable to determine whose mark this is or what it signifies.

The Crown

Sources: Numista

NGC has graded four different varieties being the silver issue (one each in MS and Proof), the silver issue overstruck “I.B.E.A. Co” for the Imperial British East Africa Company (one coin graded in MS), and one each in MS struck in lead and copper.

Regarding the last two mentioned coins: - on 16 April 2012, NGC announced that they had graded the two coins in bronze (not copper) and lead. However, in their current population report, it is indeed recorded as a copper issue. In their original announcement, they also stated that the Orange Free State patterns, as well as those of the Cape Colony and the ZAR, were struck by the Prussian Mint. This is highly debatable and most probably incorrect.

The crown shows the “LLC” initials of the die engraver, Ludwig Christian Lauer, with the word “essay” below. Two varieties mentioned by both Hern and MTB are silver issues where the word “essay” has been removed on one, and on the other, both “essay” and the “LLC” initials. It is not known why and by whom this was done.

The copper and overstruck “I.B.E.A. Co” issues. Source: NGC

Regarding the overstruck crown, Hern believes it could have been used as currency and that probably fewer than 10 pieces exist. Engelbrecht (1987:62), however, thinks it may have been used as a souvenir commemorating a coin. We very much doubt that more than 2 or 3 pieces exist, as all the pictures we could source of the coin always show the same issue.

Some Comments

In December 2025, the author published a paper entitled "Victorian-era Patterns of South Africa - Were They Mere Fantasy Coins?" His conclusion was that the patterns of Griqua Town, the Cape Colony, and the ZAR could probably be described as fantasy coins that were destined for the collector's market in Victorian times. Only for those of the Orange Free State do we have definite proof that they were indeed struck as patterns in the true sense of the word. However, upon reconsideration, this is only partly true.

We know of only seven pattern coins that were offered to the Orange Free State government for consideration - a crown piece in May 1887 and, 19 months later, in December 1888 (as recorded by Arndt), the ¼, ½, and 1 penny in copper, and the 6d (described as a 1/10th crown), 1/- (described as a 1/5th crown), and a ½ crown in silver.

Did any of them survive?

In 1952, Dr. A.C. Hoffman wrote an article entitled “Seldsame papiernote, goedvore en bewysstukke van die Oranje-Vrystaat in die versameling van die Nasionale Museum” (in Bloemfontein). He states that there were two penny pieces, both dated 1888, in the museum’s collection. From his description, it is clear that they were the plain shield and the elegant shield varieties. He adds that the one is struck in yellow copper and the other in red copper.

Hoffman further says that the two coin models (patterns) in the National Museum were minted in Germany in 1888 by the firm of L. Chr. Lauer of Nuremberg. The Union's Chargé d' Affaires, H. M. Stoker, obtained the necessary information from Frau Hedwig Masche in 1936, and with her help, the two coin models, together with the dies of one of the two pieces, were finally donated to the National Museum. He also says that Frau Masche is a daughter (?) of the no longer existing firm of Otto Nolte & Co. of Berlin, with whom the Free State Government apparently negotiated at the time about minting coins.

It would seem that by 2017, one of the two pennies was missing from the National Museum in Bloemfontein. In that year Sudré Havenga and Andre Wessels wrote an article entitled “Die geldgeskiedenis van die Vrystaat, 1854-1902, met spesiale verwysing na die numismatiese versameling van die Nasionale Museum in Bloemfontein.” The authors mention that there is (only) one pattern penny in the museum’s collection, and from their picture, it is clear that it is the plain shield variety. No mention is made of the dies of one of the two pieces, which, according to Hoffman, were also donated to the museum in 1936 or the sketches of 1887 provided by Otto Nolte in Co.

Either way, we know that neither of these patterns could have been one of the original seven that were presented to the OFS government in 1887 and 1888, as they were only acquired in 1936.

We speculate, but have no proof of this, that the seven pattern coins do not exist anymore and were probably stolen and disposed of many years ago. We, however, think that the penny and the crown would have looked very similar to some of those examples of the crown of 1887 and the penny of 1888 that we have seen. Lastly, of the many varieties in different designs, measurements, weights, inscriptions and metal content of the OFS ”pattern” issues, very little, probably none, were patterns in the true sense of the word, but similar to the (what Hern calls) salesman‘s samples of the ZAR and Cape Colony and definitely Griqua Town’s fantasy issues that were struck predominantly for the late Victorian-era collectors market.

A last few questions

It remains a puzzle to the author what exactly the roles and functions of firms like Otto Nolte & Co. of Berlin and L. Chr. Lauer of Nuremberg were in the production and marketing of these South African patterns from the late 1800s. Who sank the dies, who struck the coins and who were the marketing agents?

As we have stated earlier in the paper, according to Hern’s catalogue of the Coins and Patterns of South Africa (regarding the OFS issues), Otto Nolte of Berlin acted as agents in having these pieces struck, while Wolfgang Lauer of Nuremberg prepared the dies. Regarding the actual striking of the coins, he states that according to some sources, the 1874 dates were struck at the Würden Mint in Brussels, while the 1888 dates were probably struck at the Berlin Mint. Numista holds the opinion that Otto Nolte of Berlin (the agents) struck the coins themselves, with Wolfgang Lauer being the engraver.

In 1939, Professor Arndt wrote, “These coins (the OFS patterns), it has since been discovered, were not produced by Nolte & Co., but by L. Chr. Lauer, “Munzprageanstalt und Abzeichenfabrik ” of Nuremberg, for whom Nolte & Co. acted as agent, which, therefore, accounts for the letters LLC, apparently Lauer's monogram, appearing on some of the Free State patterns.” Dr A.C. Hoffman (mentioned previously) agrees and said that the OFS pennies were minted by L. Chr. Lauer of Nuremberg, with Otto Nolte of Berlin acting as their agent.

However, various international numismatic companies, e.g. Stack’s Bowers Galleries, Classic Numismatic Group, Stephan Album Rare Coins and MDC Monnaies de Collection, in some of their sales listings of South African patterns, maintain that it was Otto Nolte and Co. that struck them.

Who exactly were these companies mentioned, and what did they do?

Lauer of Nuremberg

Although the business was founded many years earlier in Nuremberg, it was not until Ludwig Christoph Lauer took over the reins in 1848 that the business took off. He renamed it "Coin Mint L. Chr. Lauer." He died in 1873, leaving his wife, Betty, and his three sons to carry on the business. Assuming control of the business in 1888, the three brothers - Johann Lauer as commercial manager, Ludwig Lauer as technical manager, and Wolfgang Lauer as medallist - expanded the business extensively, being aided by a staff of modellers, die-sinkers, silversmiths, and about 100 workers.

The following is an advertising token and newspaper advertisement for Lauer's products, such as medals, tokens, coins, plaques, etc. Interestingly enough, note the depiction of the postal or bugle horn in both pictures (as we have seen on the OFS pennies - picture right).

The company made various medals and plaques for the ZAR Republic during the Boer War – the following is an example.

Picture source: southafricanmedals.com. The source for the information on Lauer is Leonard Forrer’s Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, Coin-, Gem- and Seal-Engravers (1904). Forrer confirms that Lauer made various medals depicting Paul Kruger.

Otto Nolte & Co

Forrer (see above) reports that Nolte & Co. was a die-sinking establishment founded in Berlin in 1875 by Otto Nolte, who (in 1904) was still the chief partner in the firm. They have occasionally issued medals, one of which commemorates the new century, struck in 1900.

According to the German website Wertmarkenforum, L. Chr. Lauer's agent in Berlin was C. Nolte, whose address was W. Krausenstraße 76, and later Otto Nolte & Co., with the address Mathieustraße 3 in Munich. However, it was actually in Berlin, as can be seen from the advertising medal or token below. The item states that they were L. Chr. Lauer's representatives in Berlin. It could only have been struck after 15 June 1888, the date when Kaiser Wilhelm II ascended to the throne.

Source: ma-shops.fr

Forrer states that Otto Nolte & Co. was also the representative (agent) for other companies like Friedrich Pauli & Co. of Nuremberg, which made gold and silver cartons and patent foils. In the May 1898 edition of the newspaper Papierzeitung (which focused on the paper and stationery trade), they also advertised their services as agents.

On Prof. Michael Laidlaw's website, the following Boer War satirical medal, "British Lion with Burnt Paw," was made by Nolte & Co. of Berlin. In her publication "Africana Museum Commemorative Medals of the Z.A.R.," Anna H. Smith (1958:92) states that the medal was illustrated during the Boer War in Spink's Numismatic Circular of May 1900.

Source: southafricanmedals.com.

The fact that Otto Nolte indeed struck medals (and not only as acted as agents for other medal makers) is confirmed by this medal of 1898 showing their name.

Source: ma-shops.de/

Würden Mint in Brussels

We will remember that according to Hern, the OFS patterns dated 1874 were, according to some sources, struck at the Würden Mint in Brussels, while the 1888 dates were probably struck at the Berlin Mint. (It must be added that it is widely accepted that those with the 1874 date were struck at a later date.)

According to worldofcoins.eu, Henri Charles Würden (born 1849) was a Belgian engraver, working from Rue de Ruysbroek 56 in Brussels. Numista states that he designed pattern coins (dated from as early as 1860) for Argentina and Cambodia, but notes that, despite the dates, the earliest strikings took place in 1875. Both Cambodian and European mints were involved (including the Brussels Mint), so it seems that Würden was only the die-sinker, and it is questionable if his firm struck coins. On all his issues that we could access, his name appears as either C. Würden, CH.W. or C.W. on the obverses. We could find no indication that he was ever involved with patterns for South Africa.

It seems Würden, on occasions also worked with another company that was mentioned regarding the South African patterns, Oeschger Mesdach & Co., known as Eschger, Ghesquiere & Co. after 1881. According to the NGC collector’s society, they were die-sinkers at Ter Kiele, Holland, and Biache (Pas-de-Calais), Paris. At one time, they owned private mints in Spain and executed many regular coins for that and other countries. Among the unofficial patterns, they claim responsibility for the 5 and 10 centimes engraved by Würden.

Like in the case of Würden, we could find no evidence that Eschger, Ghesquiere & Co were ever involved with South African patterns.

Berlin Mint

Despite the fact that the Imperial Mint in Berlin, called the Prussian State Mint at the time, minted most of the first year (1892) Paul Kruger issues of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (the rest was struck by the ZAR itself), we could find no examples of South African pattern coins ever produced by them. Their engraver at the time working on the South African issues was Otto Schultz, and we could also not find him being involved with any patterns at any time. The nearest we could get was Schultz’s design of a commemorative medal dated 1892 for the opening of the State Mint Pretoria. The medal itself was struck at the private mint of L. Ostermann, formerly G. Loos, from plates supplied by the Royal Mint in Berlin.

(See https://www.wcnumsoc.com/the-zar-coinage-of-1892-part-2)

Source: southafricanmedals.com.

Summary

Excluding the patterns for the Burgerspond of 1874 that were struck in England by Messrs. Heaton and Sons, we could find no verifiable evidence that any other late Victorian South African patterns were struck by official mints.

Regarding private companies, the only two that we could link to these patterns were L. Chr. Lauer of Nuremberg and Otto Nolte & Co. of Berlin. We have evidence that both these companies minted (struck) numismatic items and were not only the die-makers. We have further evidence that Otto Nolte & Co. acted as agents for L. Chr. Lauer and thus marketed coins that they themselves did not produce in Berlin.

Unfortunately, the archives of the Lauer firm were totally destroyed during the Second World War in 1944. However, all the earlier reports and articles that we have seen mention that Lauer was indeed the minter of these patterns.

We could find no mention of any documentation dating from the pre-war era that claims that Otto Nolte actually minted these coins. We could also find no evidence, except for the seven patterns forwarded to the Orange Free State in 1887 and 1888, that any of the other South African issues were ever presented to any official government at the time to solicit business.