| 10. FINAL PRODUCT | ||||||
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| The final product is a particularly beautiful gold coin with a handmade character. Veldpond is classified as Siege Pieces or Money of Necessity. While the team was still in the process of making the coins, the Boers realised the exceptionality of the Veldpond and the burghers exchanged one pound for a Veldpond. After the war, British soldiers paid several pounds to get hold of a single Veldpond. | ||||||
| 11. MEDALS AWARDED | ||||||
| Two cabinet ministers73 of the ZAR government, General Lukas Meyer and Mr JC Krogh, visited Pilgrim’s Rest to discuss the British peace proposals with the burghers. | ||||||
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| Meyer and Krogh were so impressed with the activities of the ZAR Mint on the Field that they gave an order on 5 May 1902 that everyone involved with the Veldpond was to be given an award. Three days later on 8 May 1902, awards were issued to General Muller, Field Cornet Pienaar, Kloppers, Minnaar, Reid, Graham, Cooney, Marshall and Barter.74 In total nine of these medals were awarded. Becklake made errors where in listing the names of the persons who got medals: Barter’s name is typed Barker and Minnaar’s name was omitted.75 | ||||||
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Both sides of Field Cornet A
Pienaar’s
Medal |
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Marshall’s medal 76 |
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| The clover shaped medal was cut out of a gold plate with
a jeweller’s saw. The ZAR Veldpond mark was struck in the middle
on the obverse side. On the reverse side, the receiver’s name
and the words Staats Munt te Velde 1902 were engraved. The decorations
around the medals were most likely also done at Pilgrim’s Rest,
because they look alike.
Who the person is that was responsible for making the medals, is a question that has not been answered yet. Two possibilities present themselves in this regard. The one is that the Swiss, Jules Perrin did it. He was an essayer and head of the Mint in Pretoria77 until the British closed it down, and after the war he opened a jeweller’s business in Schoeman Street, Pretoria. His whereabouts during the war are not clear. After the war he and the German born pro-Boer, AH Hanneman78 who was the owner of a hotel and shop at Komatipoort, took the oath of allegiance on 30 June 1902 at the office of the British Consul General in Lourenço Marques which indicates that he could have been in the vicinity of Pilgrim’s Rest.79 No trace can be found that he had been in Pilgrim’s Rest during the war and his name is not mentioned by anyone involved with the Veldpond and the medals.According to Ernest Meyer, the bookkeeper of the Mint in Pretoria, Perrin was not positive towards the Boer cause, which makes him an unlikely candidate for being involved in the activities of the Mint on the Field. The other possibility is that Michael Cooney who was a essayer with goldsmith knowledge, made the medals. |
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