Banknotes of South West Africa
The Banknotes of South West Africa are of interest to British Commonwealth notaphilists and numismatists, so here is a historical bankground.
South West African emergency banknote issues
Between 1916 and 1918, a series of emergency banknotes were issued by several issuers, the most well-known of these are those issued by the Swakopmund Bookshop. Although these notes were issued after South Africa took over German South West Africa on behalf of the British Empire in 1915, these are denominated in Pfennigs and Marks.
South West African trading bank note issues
Banknotes were also issued by 3 trading banks for use in South West Africa (now Namibia) between the 1930s and 1959. These circulated along with the South African pound banknotes that were issued by the South African Reserve Bank until their withdrawal from circulation in 1961, when the rand was introduced.
The trading banks that issued South West African banknotes were the Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas), the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, and Volkskas Limited.