1/2 Penny - Elizabeth II 1st portrait

South Africa's halfpenny series under Elizabeth I's first portrait spans the final years before the country left the Commonwealth entirely — the Republic was declared in 1961, ending the Crown coinage series abruptly. The 1960 date is therefore the last of the type, struck in the same year the all-white referendum approved republican status by a margin of less than one percent.

Copper halfpennies of this period circulated hard in South African urban markets and show it. The 1953 issue carries a small premium as a one-year coronation-year type.