10 Pence - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait, small type, magnetic

Saint Helena shifted to nickel-plated steel for this issue as part of a broader cost-cutting move away from cupro-nickel, a transition made by numerous British Overseas Territories around this period following the Royal Mint's push to reduce production costs on lower-denomination circulation coinage. The island's extreme isolation — no airport existed until 2016 — meant coin deliveries arrived exclusively by ship, making the logistics of currency supply genuinely unusual among British territories.

KM#23a distinguishes the magnetic steel planchet from its cupro-nickel predecessor, the sole meaningful difference between the two issues.