PREVIEW: THE TREVOR WILKIN COLLECTION OF SIEGE NOTES: 30 MAY

Siege notes are an extraordinary by-product of warfare. Created to keep economies going during the most turbulent of times, those who produced them had to use whatever appropriate materials came to hand.

As Noonans’ head of banknotes, Andrew Pattison explains: “Most are printed on poor quality paper never intended for this use, using cheap inks and jury rigged printing machines. The majority were produced and hand signed by men, very often soldiers, who certainly never imagined they would be issuing money simply to keep a town or fortification running during weeks, sometimes months, of desperation.”

 

These factors make the Trevor Wilkin Collection a fascinating repository of historical events and anecdotes, ranging from the notorious (The Siege of Khartoum and the fated Gordon) to the obscure.

“Perhaps most humbling is the fact that many of those who signed the notes did not live to see beyond these sieges,” says Andrew. “It is extremely unlikely I will ever see many of these items ever again. Several of them are unique, certainly outside of institutions, and handling them is a privilege I will not soon forget.”

Highlights include a rare £1 note from the Siege of O’okiep, in April/May 1902, during the Second Boer War.

When the Boers, under Jan Smuts, invaded the Cape of Good Hope, they occupied Concordia, to the north of O’okiep and immediately laid siege to the latter in order to capture the copper fields there. Victory would have drawn the British away from Cape Town to protect the copper, leaving Cape Town itself vulnerable to attack.

Employees of the Cape Copper Company supported the 900-strong garrison in setting up defences at O’okiep, and they successfully fought off initial assaults.

Within a month, events took a turn for the better, as Smuts set about negotiating the treaty that was to end the war, and the siege dissipated, becoming little more than a relatively harmless blockade.

During that month of siege, however, currency was issued including the note for sale here. Carrying the serial number 94, and the signatures of Captain MacDonald, Staff Officer, and Lieut. Wood, the Paymaster, it is cancelled with red stamps.

With some edge tears in the top margin, and some minor pinholes and internal splits, it remains in fine to very fine condition and is extremely rare, with only four notes believed extant. The estimate is £6,000-8,000.