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.
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.