IT'S NOT often that one has the privilege of touring a money museum - a place full of money from the vaults to the walls.
Well, I must admit that it was not a good experience, especially not on a Friday mid-morning when one is dead broke and the weekend is just around the corner.
You know what we folks do on weekends - we party and find every reason to spend money - that is if we have it.
I recently enjoyed that privilege, not having money but at least visiting a museum of money, Absa Museum of Money in Troye Street, central Johannesburg.
Taken around by Tony Mabasa, whom I gathered was in fact a historian, having graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a BA in history specialising in museums.
He, in the absence of his boss Absa art and museum chief curator Paul Bayliss, took me on a guided tour of the place.
He first took me to the vaults where money from the 16th century is stored right up to modern times. What a fascinating experience to get to know that in the old days, the South African financial market was awash with different notes, printed by an assortment of independent banks in the country, creating the potential for some chaos in the financial markets due to the haphazard nature of the market.
There was no central bank to regulate financial liquidity.
The Absa Museum of Money, which reopened in May this year after moving to its present site, has the biggest collection of money in the country, if not in Africa.
The collection is just fascinating in quantity as well as in its various representations of money over the centuries, especially with the arrival of the Dutch to these shores.
The museum is a repository of history, not only of money during various eras, but the history of the country.
I have never seen so much money in my life representing a complete history of a people from Krugerrands to pure gold and even bead money.
As I left the museum afterwards , I felt rich in history, but had to open my wallet again to make sure that in reality I was still as when broke as I came in after all.
How sad and yet fulfilling an experience.
Amazing Money Museum
IT'S NOT often that one has the privilege of touring a money museum - a place full of money from the vaults to the walls.
Well, I must admit that it was not a good experience, especially not on a Friday mid-morning when one is dead broke and the weekend is just around the corner.
You know what we folks do on weekends - we party and find every reason to spend money - that is if we have it.
I recently enjoyed that privilege, not having money but at least visiting a museum of money, Absa Museum of Money in Troye Street, central Johannesburg.
Taken around by Tony Mabasa, whom I gathered was in fact a historian, having graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a BA in history specialising in museums.
He, in the absence of his boss Absa art and museum chief curator Paul Bayliss, took me on a guided tour of the place.
He first took me to the vaults where money from the 16th century is stored right up to modern times. What a fascinating experience to get to know that in the old days, the South African financial market was awash with different notes, printed by an assortment of independent banks in the country, creating the potential for some chaos in the financial markets due to the haphazard nature of the market.
There was no central bank to regulate financial liquidity.
The Absa Museum of Money, which reopened in May this year after moving to its present site, has the biggest collection of money in the country, if not in Africa.
The collection is just fascinating in quantity as well as in its various representations of money over the centuries, especially with the arrival of the Dutch to these shores.
The museum is a repository of history, not only of money during various eras, but the history of the country.
I have never seen so much money in my life representing a complete history of a people from Krugerrands to pure gold and even bead money.
As I left the museum afterwards , I felt rich in history, but had to open my wallet again to make sure that in reality I was still as when broke as I came in after all.
How sad and yet fulfilling an experience.
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