5 Pesewas

Ghana's 1965 coinage series, of which this is a part, was introduced under Kwame Nkrumah's government as part of a broader push to establish distinctly Ghanaian national institutions following independence from Britain in 1957. The pesewa-based decimal system replaced the colonial pound-shilling structure that had persisted through the early independence years. Nkrumah was overthrown by military coup just months after these coins entered circulation, in February 1966, meaning the series is permanently associated with a government that had already ceased to exist by the time most Ghanaians handled the coins.