1/2 Penny - George V 1st portrait

George V's first portrait, by Bertram Mackennal, was also used on the sovereign and other denominations from 1911 — but the halfpenny carried it through a period of serious monetary disruption. Wartime copper shortages after 1914 briefly threatened bronze coinage production, and the Royal Mint diverted significant resources toward military materiel. Mintages varied sharply across the run, with some years seeing production cut to a fraction of peacetime levels.

The portrait was retired in 1926 in favor of a modified effigy with a smaller head, a change driven partly by aesthetic criticism from the British Art in Industry movement.