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2 Shillings - George V
| Issuer | British West Africa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1913-1920 |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Crowned and draped effigy of King George V facing left, engraved by E.B. MacKennal, wearing the Imperial State Crown and robes of state with ermine trim and decorative insignia visible at the truncation. A beaded inner border frames the design. The Latin legend surrounding the portrait reads: GEORGIVS V D.G.BRITT: OMN: REX F.D.IND:IMP:, abbreviating his full royal titles as King of all the Britains, Defender of the Faith, and Emperor of India. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | 1913 - - 2,100,000 1913 - Proof - 1913 H - - 1,176,000 1914 - - 330,000 1914 H - - 637,000 1915 H - - 66,000 1916 H - - 9,824,000 1917 H - - 1,059,000 1917 H - Proof - 1918 H - - 7,294,000 1919 - - 2,000,000 1919 H - - 10,866,000 1919 H - Proof - 1920 - - 683,000 |
| Additional information |
British West Africa had no unified currency before 1907 — each territory operated under a patchwork of local trade currencies, including the notorious manilla, an iron or copper bracelet used across the Niger Delta that the colonial administration spent decades trying to suppress. The West African Currency Board, established that year, issued these coins to replace exactly that kind of commodity money across Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia simultaneously.
The 1913–1920 window spans the entirety of World War I, during which silver supply and shipping disruptions created genuine gaps in colonial currency availability.