The Story of the Tabora 15 Rupees
M. H. Warner
Note: This article was originally published in the South African Numismatic Journal, number 7, dated November 1972. The author gave his source as an article that was written by D. D. Yonge in Seaby’s Coin and Medal Bulletin of February 1965.The pictures were added by the WCNS.
Picture source: primus-muenzen.com
At the beginning of 1916, the authorities administering German East Africa found themselves hampered by a shortage of coins caused by the British blockade and aggravated by hoarding. To meet the situation, it was decided to mint large quantities of brass and copper 5 and 20 Heller coins as well as smaller numbers of gold 15 rupee pieces.
An improvised mint was set up in the railway workshops at Tabora, and Dr. Schumacher, the manager of the Kironda Gold Mines at nearby Sekenke, was entrusted with the task of striking the gold coins. His staff included 7 Sinhalese goldsmiths recruited from Dar es Salaam.
Picture left: Friedrich Schumacher (1884-1975) Source: TU Bergakademie, Freiberg. The picture on the right of the Sekenke goldmine was taken by Schumacher himself in 1914.
Most, if not all, of the bullion used for minting the coins was extracted from the Sekenke gold mine, first opened in 1909. The relatively simple machinery used for striking the coins included blacksmiths' forges for melting the metal and crucibles from the Sekenke gold mine. A mill for rolling rubber sheets was brought from Dar es Salaam and adapted for flattening ingots into metal strips, and a small hand press was used to punch blanks from the hot strip. The coins were struck by means of a modified hand-operated hydraulic pipe-bending machine. The coins had a smooth edge, no attempt being made to obtain a milled edge by means of a serrated collar.
Source: Numista
Although the authorities would have preferred to place a portrait of the emperor on the new gold coin, similar to the German imperial 20 mark piece, the skill and implements needed for this purpose were lacking at Tabora.
A competition for the test obverse design was won by a Railways employee, R. Voght (also spelt Vogt), whose drawing depicted a charging elephant with a somewhat fanciful likeness to Mount Kilimanjaro in the background. The date 1916, below which was the mint mark T for Tabora was placed under the elephant’s feet. This design was engraved by a Sinhalese, Vattheare, who also designed and engraved the reverse die depicting the imperial eagle surrounded by the legend DEUTSCH OSTAFRIKA and below 15 RUPIEN.
The proclamation authorising the coin was signed by the Governor, Dr. Heinrich Schnee, at Tabora on the 15th April, 1916, and its standard weight laid down at 7,168 grams with a permissible error set at plus or minus one hundredth.
Picture left: Governor Heinrich Albert Schnee (1871-1949). Source: Wikipedia. Picture right: German military quarters in Tabora. Source: bridgemanimages.com.
Notwithstanding the primitive conditions and implements with which the coin was struck, Dr. Schumacher records with some pride that he was able to achieve an overall average weight of 7,1689 grams. As the rolling machine was unable to produce strips of the same thickness, the metal was rolled to something more than the uniform width that was required, and the punched overweight blanks were then filed and emery papered down to the proclaimed weight by hand. This work was performed by the 7 goldsmiths who were soon each able to turn out up to 30 adjusted blanks per day.
Pictures from left to right: Governor's decree of April 15, 1916, on the minting of gold coins, floor plan of the gold coin workshop and the hydraulic hand press. Source: dr-meyer-numismatik.de.
After the coins had been struck, they were scrubbed with brass brushes and polished with soap tree oil in order to remove and salvage any loose fragments of gold adhering to the coin. This accounts for the somewhat roughened appearance of so many of these pieces. The hand operated pipe bending machine that was used for striking the blanks broke after 2½ months, and the manufacture of the coins was transferred to Lulanguru, 25 kilometres west of Tabora, where a press, formerly used for extracting oil from groundnuts, was adapted for use.
This machine being steam driven was much more efficient than the previous hand press, enabling a larger quantity of coins to be struck. The bullion produced by the Sekenke gold mine was only partly refined and contained from 15% to 20% of silver.
Postcard picture of Lulanguru station circa 1919. Source: Wikipedia.
As the German authorities had decided the coin should contain 75% pure gold, it was necessary, depending upon the silver content, to add from 5% to 10% of copper to the alloy, which accounts for the coin varying in colour from a light to a reddish gold. Although the Tabora 15 rupees was tariffed as equivalent in value to the regular German 20 mark coin, this latter piece weighed 7,965 grams and contained 7,168 grams of pure gold. If no cognizance is taken of the 15 rupees silver content, it was therefore intrinsically worth 25% less than the gold 20 mark piece, which it supplemented.
The existence of two reverse dies is known.
The first die may be readily identified by the arabesque to the right of the eagle’s head, which extends only beneath the A of OSTAFRIKA whereas in the other die it continues under the letter T. Another variation is evident in the arabesque under the word DEUTSCH to the left of the eagle’s head. In the case of the first die, this decoration extends as far as the C, whereas in coins struck with the second die, the arabesque finally comes to rest at the commencement of the letter H. It has been suggested in several quarters that the second die never had a separate existence at all but was simply the same die as before, but heavily re-engraved.
Source: lastdodo.com
Dr. Schumacher, who was in charge of production, refutes this theory and states that he prudently had a second die made and used this at Lulanguru. According to Dr. Schumacher, a total of 16 198 gold 15 rupee pieces were struck, of which it is thought that 6 395 coins were struck with the first die and 9 803 with the second.
Production of 15 rupee pieces came to an end with the close approach of the Allied forces on two fronts, the British and South African troops from the East and the Belgians from the West, and it was units of this latter force who finally occupied Tabora on September 19th, 1916.
Allied troops entering Tabora on 19 September 1916. The South African contingent was commanded by General Jan Smuts. Source: Wikipedia
These gold coins are not infrequently found in this country, and it is evident that a fair number of these historic pieces were brought back as mementoes by the returning South African soldiers at the conclusion of hostilities in East Africa.