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1/2 Penny - George V
| Issuer | British West Africa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912-1936 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | KM#8 |
| Obverse description | The obverse features a central round perforation surrounded by an ornate scrolled cartouche enclosing the denomination legend ONE HALFPENNY in raised lettering, surmounted by a crowned royal crown at the top of the field. The circular peripheral legend reads GEORGIVS V REX ET IND: IMP: in Latin, with the Arabic inscription نُصْف پَنّي appearing in the lower field below the cartouche. The dentillated border runs along the full circumference of the coin. The design, engraved by Edgar Bertram Mackennal, presents a purely typographic and heraldic composition without a royal portrait, a distinctive feature of British West African coinage. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
British West Africa was a fiscal convenience rather than a political entity — a collective designation for the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia, administered under a common currency to simplify colonial trade accounting. The West African Currency Board, established in 1912, issued these coins specifically to displace the Maria Theresa thalers, manillas, and cowrie shells still widely used across the region. The Board's mandate was explicitly extractive: coins were to be exchanged for sterling at a fixed rate, tying local commerce to London's financial infrastructure.
The copper-nickel alloy was chosen over bronze partly for durability in humid tropical conditions.