Postal orders of the Orange Free State were introduced on 1 January 1898.
The Orange Free State's postal orders were known in Dutch spelling - 'ORANJE VRIJ STAAT', which also appears in the watermark.
Any postal orders that still have a counterfoil attached are remainders from books, which were souvenired during the Second Boer War.
The Orange Free State and the South African Republic were the first countries in the world to declare postal orders to be legal tender as an emergency currency.
At this time, it is currently difficult to distinguish between the currency issues and the normal postal notes.
The most common postal notes that turn up are the ones that have been cashed within the Orange Free State prior to 1 September 1899.
The Orange Free State's postal notes were allowed to be paid in the South African Republic and in the two British colonies (Cape of Good Hope and Natal) as well.
The Orange Free State's postal notes are very popular with banknote collectors, and in fact, some denominations are listed in the Pick Specialised Catalogue as banknotes, but it is noted there that the paid postal notes are worth half the listed catalogue value.
red postage stamp stuck to the back and cancelled with the paying post office's datestamp in addition to the datestamp being applied to the correct area on the face of the postal order.
These are regarded by collectors of the postal orders of the Commonwealth of Nations as being worth slightly more than the same item paid within the Orange Free State.