The 1947 switch from silver to copper-nickel across much of the British colonial currency system was a direct consequence of postwar silver economics — the metal had become too valuable to lock into circulation coinage. Southern Rhodesia made the transition alongside other Crown dependencies and colonies, though the territory's own mining output, dominated by gold and chrome rather than silver, gave the Currency Board little political reason to resist the change.
KM#18b distinguishes this copper-nickel version from the earlier silver-composition strikes of the same type.
The 1947 switch from silver to copper-nickel across much of the British colonial currency system was a direct consequence of postwar silver economics — the metal had become too valuable to lock into circulation coinage. Southern Rhodesia made the transition alongside other Crown dependencies and colonies, though the territory's own mining output, dominated by gold and chrome rather than silver, gave the Currency Board little political reason to resist the change.
KM#18b distinguishes this copper-nickel version from the earlier silver-composition strikes of the same type.