3 Pence - George VI 1st type

New Zealand's threepence series began in 1933, the year the country first issued its own coinage distinct from British types. The .500 fine silver standard — half the fineness of sterling — was a deliberate cost-saving measure adopted across the entire New Zealand silver series from the outset, matching Australian practice rather than the British one.

The 1946 date closes this type because George VI dropped the "IND IMP" title from all Commonwealth coinage the following year, ahead of Indian independence in 1947. That titular change forced a new obverse, making the first type a clean nine-year run.