3 Pence - George VI

Fiji's nickel-brass threepence was introduced in 1947 as part of a broader Commonwealth-wide shift away from silver in small denomination coinage — a postwar austerity measure driven by wartime silver depletion and rising metal costs. The distinctive twelve-sided planchet, shared with the British threepence of the same period, was chosen specifically to distinguish it by touch from the similarly sized penny in circulation.

George VI's failing health meant the 1952 issue was among the last colonial coins struck in his name before his death in February of that year.