1 Penny - Edward VIII

Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936 before his coronation ever took place, making every coin struck in his name that year a product of a king who never formally reigned. The West African Currency Board had prepared dies and struck coinage for the territories of British West Africa — Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia — well before the abdication crisis resolved itself.

Unlike the controversial obverse prepared for British domestic coinage, which Edward had insisted face left to break with tradition, the West African issue used a non-portrait design, sidestepping the controversy entirely.