1 Shilling - George VI Trial Strike

British West Africa's coinage had long been struck in cupro-nickel, but postwar metal shortages and rising costs prompted the Colonial Office to investigate cheaper alternatives. This trial strike in chromium plated steel was part of that evaluation — the same exercise that produced comparable test pieces for other denominations in 1952. The transition was ultimately never implemented for this territory; independence movements were accelerating across British West Africa, and the administrative calculus shifted away from long-term coinage infrastructure investment.

KM#TS1 is one of very few documented trial pieces from this series, and survivors almost certainly originate from Royal Mint archives rather than circulation.