Concentration camp tokens & banknotes.

Diyatalawa was the main Ceylon camp, known as "Boer Town". The first batch of prisoners arrived in Ceylon on 9 August 1900, and eventually some 5,000 prisoners were housed there. Prisoners could draw against their credit using miniature banknotes issued by the Camp Commandant.

• One Rupee note — 22 April 1901, serial 4109 — sold for R28,000 in 2022. A Diyatalawa One Rupee (serial 1524) sold at Noonans in 2005 for £160
• 50 Cent note — ND, serial 168, handstamped "March 1901" — sold at Spink for £340

Ragama camp was established for "dissidents and irreconcilables" — foreign volunteers, Germans, Hollanders, Irish Americans. In wartime correspondence, a Jewish POW named Jeannot Weinberg described them in a phrase that would echo through the camp's numismatic memory:

The phrase later inspired a famous satirical medal struck by another Ragama prisoner, see Medals section below.

From 1900 to 1902, 6,000 Boers were shipped to St Helena and housed in encampments on Deadwood Plain and Broad Bottom. Prisoners included General Piet Cronjé and Commandant Eloff, a grandson of Paul Kruger. Troublesome prisoners were confined to High Knoll, a large fort isolated on a hill top.

A rare cast bronze medal (1900) commemorates the camp, showing the arms of the ZAR above Kruger's head, Britannia, and on the reverse, the camp on the hill with the legend "TER GEDACHTENIS AAN DE BUEREN KRYGSGEVANGENEN".

Prisoners were also sent to Bermuda and India, though specific paper currency from these camps is less well-documented. John Ineson's authoritative work — Paper Currency of the Anglo-Boer War, 1899 – 1902 (Spink, 1999) — provides the definitive checklist and rarity guide for all known Boer War paper currency, including these overseas camps.

The Bellevue camp was situated where the current Simon's Town golf club is, next to Penguin Beach. The first prisoners arrived in February 1900. According to Regulation 22, prisoners weren't allowed to have money in their possession; their financial affairs were controlled by the Camp Commandant. Prisoners could earn money in the form of "Good For" vouchers exchangeable for goods at the camp canteen.

There are six notes in the Bellevue series, printed by the Cape Times:

• Sixpence (6d) — white paper, black ink
• Shilling (1/-) — white paper, black/orange ink
• Two Shillings (2/-) — white paper, green ink
• Five Shillings (5/-) — blue paper, blue ink
• Ten Shillings (10/-) — white paper, purple ink
• Twenty Shillings (20/-) — white paper, brown ink

Two basic varieties exist. One reads "Payable on demand to Prisoners of War only at our Store, Simon's Town" (numbered, without censor handstamp); the other reads "Payable on demand to Prisoners of War only at our Canteen, Bellevue Camp, Simon's Town" (unnumbered, with blue "Censor Prisoners of War" handstamp). The store owner was W.N. Runciman, who later became Mayor of Simon's Town.

Two camps were situated at Green Point: the Green Point Track Camp (with approximately 2,000 prisoners) and the Sky View Camp (accommodating half that figure). They were established to relieve overcrowding after the arrival of 4,000 Boers taken prisoner at Paardeberg. Each camp had its own shop, open five hours a day, where prisoners could buy foodstuffs.

The Green Point "Good Fors" were issued in four denominations: 1 shilling, 2 shillings, 5 shillings (mauve), and 5 shillings (purple). They bear the printed signature of G.W. Barnes, Manager.

Auction records for Green Point notes:

• Set of 4 — 1/-, 2/-, 5/- mauve, 5/- purple, original watermarked remainders, about UNC — sold £100 (Auction 159)
• Similar set — sold £85 (Auction 156)
• Set of 3 — 1/-, 2/-, 5/- — sold £70 (Auction 146)
• Single 1/- note — sold £10 (Auction 146)