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1/10 Penny - Edward VII Pattern
| Issuer | British West Africa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1906 |
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| Currency | Pound (1907-1968) |
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| Obverse description | Central round hole piercing the field, surrounded by a broad annular band carrying the denomination legend ONE TENTH OF A PENNY in raised relief along the left arc. A Tudor imperial crown is depicted at the top of the annular band. The outer legend reads EDWARD VII KING & EMPEROR, distributed around the upper periphery. Below the central hole, Arabic script عشر البني appears in the lower field. The overall design is plain and typographic in character, without a royal portrait, reflecting the experimental nature of this pattern issue. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | EDWARD VII KING & EMPEROR ONE TENTH OF A PENNY عشر البني |
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| Additional information |
British West Africa's fractional coinage was designed from the outset for low-value transactions in markets where the existing currency — Spanish and American dollars, German marks, and a tangle of local commodity currencies — was wholly unsuitable for small change. The 1906 aluminium pattern was part of an exploratory phase before the West African Currency Board settled on its final specifications, testing whether aluminium could hold up under tropical conditions and heavy handling.
It could not. Aluminium proved too soft and too easily counterfeited by local craftsmen, and the Board abandoned it before regular issue. Only a handful of these pattern pieces were struck.