2 Shillings - Elizabeth II 2nd portrait

The Gambia's 1966 coinage was issued in anticipation of independence from Britain, which came in February 1965 — meaning this series was prepared while the country was already sovereign, replacing the West African Currency Board issues that had served the region under colonial administration. The shilling denomination was retained briefly, an acknowledgment that existing trade habits and cash familiarity mattered more than immediate symbolic rupture with pre-independence currency conventions. The series was short-lived; decimalization followed in 1971 with the introduction of the dalasi.