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The British West African Pound was the currency of British West Africa, a group of British colonies, protectorates and mandate territories - Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana (originally Gold Coast) and Gambia. The British West African Pound was equal to the (pre-decimal) Pound Sterling and was similarly subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. The Halfpenny (or half penny) was thus equal to 1/2 of a penny, 1/24th of a shilling or 1/480th of a pound (i.e., 480 of these coins made one pound). Unlike its Imperial counterpart - the British Halfpenny - the British West African Halfpenny had a central hole which made the two coins incompatible; this was done to make sure that colonial money does not get exported to Great Britain to be used there, leaving the colonies with no cash. For most of the history of the denomination, the coins were made of CuproNickel (copper-nickel); in 1952 only, the coins were in bronze. After decolonisation, the coins were replaced by the various new countries as they introduced their own independent currencies: In some places, British West African coins circulated in parallel with the new coinage until 1968. Thus, halfpenny coins issued in 1952 would have circulated for up to 16 years depending on location. | ||||||||||||
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Source | Edition | About | Link | Notes |
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Museums Victoria Collections | 2016 | Coin description | link | |
Remick, Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins | 1971 | Mint | ||
Remick, Catalogue of British Commonwealth Coins | 1971 | Mintage | ||
Museums Victoria Collections | 2016 | Varieties | link | Proof |
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Country | British West Africa |
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Currency | British West African Pound |
Coin Type | Halfpenny, Bronze |
Issued | 1952 |
Monarch | King George VI |
Effigy | Imperial Crown - St Edward's Crown and the Tudor Crown |
Face Value | 1/2 (x Penny) |
Total Mintage | 43,735,560 (43.7 million) |
Current | No; demonetised 1968 |
Material | Bronze |
Technology | Milled (machine-made) |
Shape | Round with hole |
Orientation | Medal Alignment (Axis 0) |
Size | 25.9000 mm |
Mass | 5.6000 g |
OCC ID | DANM-QOPY-CRXW-EJYG |
Image | Details |
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Proof Coin - 1/2 Penny, British West Africa, 1952
Copyright: Museums Victoria / CC BY Author: Jennifer McNair Notes: Proof. Source |
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Proof Coin - 1/2 Penny, British West Africa, 1952
Copyright: Museums Victoria / CC BY Author: Jennifer McNair Notes: Proof. Royal Mint (no mint mark). Source |
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Halfpenny
Copyright: British Museum / CC BY-NC-SA Notes: Royal Mint. Source |
Source | Reference ID |
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Krause, Standard Catalog of World Coins | British West Africa KM# 27a |