South African pound - wikipedia South African pound South African pound Suid - Afrikaanse pond ( in Afrikaans ) 1 Pound note from 1958 Denominations Subunit 1 / 20 shilling 1 / 240 penny Plural pond ( Afrikaans only ) penny pence ( English only ) Symbol £ shilling s penny d Banknotes 10s, £ 1, £ 5, £ 10, and £ 100 Coins Freq. used 1⁄4d, 1⁄2d, 1d, 3d, 6d, 1s, 2s, 21⁄2s Rarely used 5s Demographics User ( s ) Union of South Africa Saint Helena Issuance Central bank South African Reserve Bank Website www.reservebank.co.za This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete. The pound ( symbol £ ) was the currency of the Union of South Africa from the creation of the country as a British Dominion in 1910. It was replaced by the rand in 1961, the same year that South Africa became a republic. In 1825, an imperial order - in - council made sterling coinage legal tender in all the British colonies. At that time, the only British colony in Southern Africa was the Cape of Good Hope Colony. As time went on, the British pound sterling and its associated subsidiary coinage became the currency of every British territory in Southern Africa. The pound at that time was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. Contents 1 History 2 Coins 3 Strachan and Co currency ( S&Co ) tokens 4 State issued Coinage 4.1 Transvaal Republic 4.2 Union of South Africa 5 Banknotes 6 See also 7 References History The pound sterling became the standard currency of the Cape of Good Hope colony in 1825 following an imperial order - in - council that was issued for the purpose of introducing the sterling coinage into all the British colonies. British coins then replaced the Dutch currency. Before a unified South Africa, many authorities issued coins and banknotes in their own pound, equivalent to sterling. The Transvaal Republic, the Boer state that in 1902 was to become Transvaal Colony, issued notes from 1867 to 1902 and coins from 1892 to 1902. The gold coins were denominated in pond rather than pounds. In 1920, the Treasury issued gold certificate notes. The following year, the South African Reserve Bank was established as the sole note issuing authority. Coins were issued from 1923. The South African pound remained equal to the pound sterling throughout its existence, except for a short period following the abandonment of the gold standard in the United Kingdom in 1931. When the United Kingdom abandoned the gold standard in September 1931, Canada quickly followed suit because it had been under exactly the same pressure as the United Kingdom. The contraction of the money supply in the United States had been causing large amounts of gold bullion to flow west across the Atlantic Ocean, and south into the United States. The situation in South Africa was different, because gold exportation to London was a major business. According to Jan Smuts in his biography, the Nationalists specifically wanted to make a point of not automatically following suit with the United Kingdom, and they perceived that they were in a strong position to do so. For the United Kingdom and Canada, an outflow of gold was seen as a flight of gold, whereas for South Africa the same was seen as a profitable enterprise. The effect of South Africa 's continuing adherence to the gold standard did not however turn out as Hertzog might have hoped. The South African pound rose dramatically in value against the pound sterling, and this virtually crippled South Africa 's gold export industry overnight. By 1933, Hertzog abandoned the gold standard and the South African pound returned to parity with the pound sterling. The relief was felt almost immediately. The South African pound was replaced by the rand on 14 February 1961 at a rate of 2 rand = 1 pound. That rate continued until the Sterling devaluation in 1967 when South Africa did not follow suit. Coins Main article : Coins of the South African pound Strachan and Co currency ( S&Co ) tokens A set of Strachan and Co currency tokens The first Strachan tokens were issued without holes. None of these were ever found and the denominations are not known. Later Strachan tokens were issued in 3d, 6d, 1 / - and 2 / - and are South Africa 's first widely circulating indigenous token currency issued after 1907. The son of Donald Strachan, Douglas Strachan, notes the S&Co tokens were issued not long after 1870 In this same diary note Douglas Strachan notes that the S&Co tokens were `` accepted everywhere ''. The area of circulation from the stores at Umzimkhulu quickly spread to a large area including Kokstad about 100 km to the south. Ken Strachan, Douglas Strachan 's son, told Scott Balson in the late 1970s that the S&Co tokens were launched on the day the company opened its doors in 1874. The Griqua Council do not mention the tokens at all before or during the council meeting in January 1875, so it is possible that they were issued after this date. State issued coinage Main article : Coins of the South African pound Transvaal Republic Eighteen years later, in 1892, the Transvaal Republic introduced coins in denominations of 1, 3 and 6 pence, 1, 2, 21⁄2 and 5 shillings, 1⁄2 and 1 pond ( pound ). The last of these coins were issued in 1900, except for siege 1 pond coins issued in 1902. Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa issued coins from 1923, in denominations of 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1, 3 and 6 pence, 1, 2 ( initially denominated as a florin ) and 21⁄2 shillings, 1⁄2 and 1 sovereign. The coins were the same weights as the corresponding British coins but the silver coins ( 3 pence up to 21⁄2 shillings ) were struck in. 800 fineness silver. Gold coins were struck until 1932. In 1947, 5 shilling coins were introduced, with occasional commemorative variants. In 1951, the silver coinage switched to. 500 fineness. Gold bullion 1⁄2 and 1 pound coins were issued from 1952 in the same specifications as the 1⁄2 and 1 sovereign. All the coins had the British monarch on the obverse, with the titles in Latin, while the reverse had the denomination and `` South Africa '' written in English and Afrikaans. Banknotes The government of the Cape of Good Hope issued a 1 - pound note in 1835 and a 20 - pound note in 1834. Between 1869 and 1872, the ZAR in Transvaal issued notes for 6 pence, 1, 21⁄2, 5 and 10 shillings, 1, 5 and 10 pound. The National Bank of the ZAR issued 1 pound notes between 1892 and 1893. During the Second Boer War, government notes were issued in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 pound. In 1920, Treasury gold certificate notes were issued in denominations of 1, 5, 100, 1000 and 10,000 pounds. From 1921, the South African Reserve Bank took over the issuance of paper money, introducing notes for 10 shillings, 1, 5, 20 and 100 pounds. 20 pound notes were last issued in 1933, with 10 pound notes added in 1943. All banknotes were bilingual in English and Afrikaans. From 1948, two variants of each note were issued, one with English written first and the other with Afrikaans written first. See also Coins of the South African pound South African rand Coins of the South African rand Economy of South Africa References Jump up ^ `` Screendump of certified diary note ''. by Douglas Strachan, certified by his son Ken Strachan, confirms the S&Co first released in early 1870s. ( Source page 9 of `` Kence, the trade tokens of Strachan and Co '' published by Prof Clive Graham and Scott Balson in 1978 ). Jump up ^ Tokens of the Transkei, Milner Snell Pick, Albert ( 1996 ). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money : General Issues to 1960. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer ( editors ) ( 8th ed. ). Krause Publications. ISBN 0 - 87341 - 469 - 1. Krause, Chester L. ; Clifford Mishler ( 2004 ). Standard Catalog of World Coins : 1801 -- 1900. Colin R. Bruce II ( senior editor ) ( 4th ed. ). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873497988. Krause, Chester L. ; Clifford Mishler ( 1991 ). Standard Catalog of World Coins : 1801 -- 1991 ( 18th ed. ). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873411501. Pick, Albert ( 1994 ). Standard Catalog of World Paper Money : General Issues. Colin R. Bruce II and Neil Shafer ( editors ) ( 7th ed. ). Krause Publications. ISBN 0 - 87341 - 207 - 9. Currencies named pound or similar Current Pound sterling : ( Alderney pound Falkland Islands pound Gibraltar pound Guernsey pound Jersey pound Manx pound Saint Helena pound ) Egyptian pound Lebanese pound South Sudanese pound Sudanese pound Syrian pound Turkish lira Local alternative currency Bristol Pound Brixton Pound Lewes Pound Stroud Pound Totnes Pound Defunct Anglo - Saxon pound Australian pound Bahamian pound Bermudian pound Biafran pound British West African pound Canadian pound Connecticut pound Cypriot pound Delaware pound Fijian pound French livre : ( Livre parisis Livre tournois ) French colonial livre : ( Guadeloupe livre Haitian livre New France livre Saint Lucia livre ) Gambian pound Georgia pound Ghanaian pound Irish pound Israeli pound Jamaican pound Japanese government - issued Oceanian Pound Libyan pound Lombardo - Venetian pound Luccan pound Luxembourgish livre Malawian pound Maltese pound Maltese lira Maryland pound Massachusetts pound New Brunswick pound New Guinean pound New Hampshire pound New Jersey pound New York pound New Zealand pound Newfoundland pound Nigerian pound North Carolina pound Nova Scotian pound Oceanian pound Ottoman lira Palestine pound Papal lira Parman lira Pennsylvania pound Pound Scots Prince Edward Island pound Rhode Island pound Rhodesian pound Rhodesia and Nyasaland pound Sammarinese lira Sardinian lira Solomon Islands pound South Carolina pound Southern Rhodesian pound South African pound South African Republic pound South West African pound Tongan pound Tuscan pound Vatican lira Virginia pound West Indian pound Western Samoan pound Zambian pound See also Dinar Pound sign Troy pound Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_African_pound&oldid=787141977 '' Categories : Pound ( currency ) Currencies of the British Empire Currencies of the Commonwealth of Nations History of South Africa Currencies of Africa Currencies of South Africa Modern obsolete currencies 1961 disestablishments in South Africa Currencies with multiple banknote issuers Hidden categories : Articles with Afrikaans - language external links Infobox currency with an unlinked website Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Deutsch Español فارسی Français Italiano Polski Русский Sesotho sa Leboa Suomi Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 23 June 2017, at 17 : 58. 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Question: when did south africa change from pounds to rands
Answer: 1961