William II (1888-1918) 15 Rupien Tabora 1916 Emergency Coina...

Hammer

£3,500

William II (1888-1918) 15 Rupien Tabora 1916 Emergency Coinage (arabesque below T variety)
Obverse
Coat of arms of the German Empire supported by imperial eagle facing left, wearing Order of the Black Eagle, with German State Crown with ribbons above legend above DEUTSCH OSTAFRIKA denomination below ✤ 15 RUPIEN ✤
Reverse
African elephant walking right across savanna, with raised trunk trumpeting. Mountain peaks in the background date and mint mark below • 1916 • T
Edge plain 7.06 grams 22mm Ø


At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Dar-es-Salam, the capital of German East Africa, was bombed by the British HMS Astraea and Pegasus cruisers. Consequently, the capital was moved inland, to Tabora. The German Empire attempted to bypass the maritime blockade by using Zeppelins to deliver supplies to Tabora, but this plan failed.

Due to the lack of a connection to the empire, East Africa was cut off from the imperial gold and silver coinage, which made it difficult for the German East African Company to conduct domestic and international transactions. Therefore, the colonial government had to print banknotes and mint coins locally to continue paying the Askari mercenaries. This resulted in the only German imperial coinage with the mint mark "T" for Tabora.

The emergency mint was established in a postal railway workshop owned by the German East Africa Bank in Tabora, where for security reasons, a corrugated iron shelter was put together inside the building for the production of the gold coins. The workforce consisted of two Indians, six Africans and seven Sinhalese goldsmiths recruited in Dar es Salaam.
The minting equipment was salvaged from the SMS Königsberg light cruiser, scuttled on 11 July 1915 by two British monitors. The basic information about how to mint such coins was found in a Meyers' Encyclopaedia in the governor's office.
A Sinhalese goldsmith from Zanzibar was hired to engrave the dies. According to Kurt Jäger, he "worked particularly carefully when under the influence of alcohol".
The image of the elephant depicted on the reverse was chosen instead of the emperor's effigy due to the important role played by the ivory trade for the economy of East Africa. The mountain peaks behind the elephant are often considered to be Kilimanjaro. However, the resemblance is limited, Kilimanjaro being an isolated volcano topped by a flat plateau. The silhouette of the central peak on the reverse is rather similar to Mount Meru.