South Africa 1896 imitation sovereign

I found one of these in the bulk bins at the coin shop - https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces13528.html

I picked it up because I pretty buy everything pre-1950 from the bins and the date is 1896. It wasn't until I got it home that I discovered it was an imitation coin.

Is it really a contemporary counterfeit from 1896? Do these tokens have any value today?

http://www.wbcc.fsnet.co.uk/aftsou2.htm
and:
about 1 euro:
http://www.catawiki.be/catalogus/penningen-medailles/soorten/replica-munten/2348479-zuid-afrika-1-pond-1896-imitation

These are such strange little beasts. I have never seen one before the last 18 months or so and now suddenly I've seen about a half dozen including one I had myself and gave away to a friend who collects such things.

The first link implies that they were contemporary with the very familiar To Hanover tokens. That's strange then that I've never seen one for 50 years and now I'm virtually tripping over them. Does anyone know if there was a recent restrike?

Could be because their former owners are now dying off and their families releasing them into the world? But then they can't be much older than 60-70 years.