Ten Rand. GX1, Leitz Elmar-V 65mm + Bellows II

Paediatrics stayed open nearly an hour late tonight and put me well into "Emergency Blip" territory since the sun was long gone by the time we were done. As I was driving home I remembered that I have a little stash of old and obsolete South African currency. This note, when it was in circulation, was the equivalent of about $14.28, or 5 Pounds Sterling. Those days are long gone. The gentleman on the note is Jan van Riebeeck, who was sent in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company to establish a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope. This was so that their ships traveling backwards and forwards between the Spice Islands and Holland could replenish their supplies; the humble and unintended founding of South Africa. The descendants of the Dutch were a pretty conservative, god-fearing crowd who later formed the Nationalist Party government which ran the country from 1948 until 1994. My dear aunt, Crispin25's mom, had a theory that the Nationalists took old Jan van Riebeeck off the currency at a certain point because his long hair offended their sensibilities! He was replaced by a series of grumpy-looking politicians from their party who needed to be remembered for one reason or another.