Southern Rhodesia switched its threepence from silver to copper-nickel in 1948, following the same postwar metal economics that drove Britain and most sterling-area territories to abandon low-denomination silver coinage. The Colonial Office had been pushing the shift since the late 1940s as silver recovery costs outpaced face value on small coins across the empire.
George VI's health was deteriorating sharply through this period; he died in February 1952, making that year's issues among the last struck under his name for Southern Rhodesia before the territory transitioned to the new Elizabethan coinage.
Southern Rhodesia switched its threepence from silver to copper-nickel in 1948, following the same postwar metal economics that drove Britain and most sterling-area territories to abandon low-denomination silver coinage. The Colonial Office had been pushing the shift since the late 1940s as silver recovery costs outpaced face value on small coins across the empire.
George VI's health was deteriorating sharply through this period; he died in February 1952, making that year's issues among the last struck under his name for Southern Rhodesia before the territory transitioned to the new Elizabethan coinage.