June 2026
Southern Rhodesia ½ Crown, 1948 First Year of the Copper-Nickel Series — Modified George VI Portrait — Royal Mint, London
KM# 24 · Copper-Nickel · 32.2 mm · 14.14 g · Milled edge · Schon# 26 · N# 6072
George VI — Metcalfe
KING GEORGE THE SIXTH
Crowned Shield — Kruger Gray
SOUTHERN RHODESIA / HALF CROWN
Denomination
Half Crown (2s 6d)
Country
Southern Rhodesia (British Colony)
Year
1948
Monarch
George VI
Catalogues
KM# 24 · Schön# 26 · N# 6072
Metal
Copper-Nickel
Diameter
32.2 mm
Weight
14.14 g
Edge
Milled (reeded)
Die Axis
Medal alignment (↑↑)
Mint
Royal Mint, London
Series run
1948–1952 (KM# 24)
History & Context
Design
The Series
Mint & Production
Valuation
Collecting Notes
| Section | Topic | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| History & Context | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | Southern Rhodesia as a Colony |
The Colony of Southern Rhodesia was established on 1 October 1923 after annexation by the Crown on 12 September 1923, ending the administration of the British South Africa Company that had governed the territory since 1890. It was a self-governing British Crown colony — meaning its white-settler government had considerable domestic autonomy while the Crown retained authority over foreign affairs and constitutional matters. In 1948 the colony was at the height of its self-government period, with a population of approximately 2 million, of whom around 80,000 were white settlers. The Rhodesian Pound, pegged at parity with the Pound Sterling, was the currency. Southern Rhodesia was merged into the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953, which lasted until 1963. It subsequently became Rhodesia under the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979, and the Republic of Zimbabwe in 1980. Its capital, Salisbury, is today known as Harare. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | The Half Crown in Rhodesian Daily Life |
The half crown — two shillings and sixpence, or one-eighth of a pound — was the largest everyday silver-denomination coin in British colonial monetary systems, and had been so since the Victorian era. In Southern Rhodesia in 1948, a half crown could buy a reasonable meal, pay an hour's unskilled labour, or cover a small government fee. It was the workhorse coin of significant transactions, used across the retail, agricultural, and government sectors of the colony's economy. The shift from silver to copper-nickel in 1948 (following the transitional copper-nickel year of 1947) made the denomination visually and physically unchanged but intrinsically different: a base-metal coin of the same weight and size as the silver issues that preceded it. The Rhodesian Pound was subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence — the standard pre-decimal British system. A half crown represented 2 shillings and 6 pence, or 30 pence, or one-eighth of a pound. The denomination was abolished across the sterling area when Britain decimalised in 1971, though Southern Rhodesia had by then long since issued its own dollar currency (from 1970). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | 1948 — The Year of This Coin |
The year 1948 was eventful both in Southern Rhodesia and across the British world. The National Party won the South African general election in May 1948, beginning the apartheid era — an event that cast a long shadow over Southern Rhodesia's own racial politics. In Britain, the National Health Service was founded and the Empire was reshaping into the Commonwealth. In Southern Rhodesia, the postwar period brought economic growth driven by tobacco farming, mining, and immigration from Britain and South Africa. The 1948 coinage was the first full year of the new KM#24 copper-nickel half crown, following the transitional 1947 copper-nickel issue (KM#15b) which had itself replaced the wartime .500 silver half crowns of 1944–1946. The 1948 coins also carried a modified George VI obverse — the legend KING GEORGE THE SIXTH replacing the earlier GEORGE VI KING EMPEROR, reflecting the Indian Independence of August 1947 which had ended the King's role as Emperor of India. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Design | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Design | Obverse — Modified Portrait |
The obverse carries a left-facing crowned bust of George VI, modelled by Percy Metcalfe (1895–1970). Metcalfe had originally designed the Southern Rhodesia coinage portraits in 1937 for the King's first Southern Rhodesia coins; the 1948 issue uses a modified version of that portrait. The critical change is in the legend: earlier George VI issues read GEORGE VI KING EMPEROR, while from 1948 the legend reads KING GEORGE THE SIXTH — the title "Emperor" having been dropped following Indian Independence on 15 August 1947. The portrait itself is otherwise unchanged: the King is shown crowned, in profile left. Percy Metcalfe (1895–1970) was one of the principal British medallic sculptors of the inter-war and post-war periods. He designed coinage portraits for multiple territories including Ireland, New Zealand, and India, as well as Southern Rhodesia. His initials do not appear on the Southern Rhodesia coins, but his authorship is confirmed in Royal Mint records and numismatic literature. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Design | Reverse — The Crowned Shield |
The reverse was designed by George Kruger Gray (1880–1943) and first introduced on the Southern Rhodesia coinage of 1932. Kruger Gray had earlier designed the Arms of Southern Rhodesia in 1924; when the colony introduced its own coinage eight years later, he was the natural choice to select motifs from those Arms for the coins. The Royal Mint Annual Report of 1932 records his reasoning directly: "the Halfcrown shows the Shield of Arms surmounted by the Royal Crown." The shield — bearing the heraldic arms of the colony including a pick, representing the mining industry — sits below a Royal Crown, with the denomination HALF CROWN below and the legend SOUTHERN [date] RHODESIA flanking the shield at the top. The design was carried unchanged through multiple monarchs and metal changes from 1932 to 1954. George Kruger Gray (born George Edward Kruger; 1880–1943) adopted his wife's surname Gray after their marriage in 1918. He graduated from the Royal College of Art and became one of the most prolific British heraldic and medallic artists of his era — designing coins for multiple Commonwealth territories, as well as British stamps, medals, and architectural decorations. He died in 1943, five years before the 1948 coin was struck, but his reverse design had by then been in continuous use for sixteen years. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Design | Physical Character & Legend |
At 32.2 mm in diameter and 14.14 g in weight, the 1948 half crown is a substantial coin — similar in size and weight to the British half crown of the same period. The edge is milled (reeded) with fine parallel reeds. The die axis is medal alignment (↑↑): obverse and reverse are oriented the same way, so the coin reads correctly whether held upright or inverted.
The full obverse legend reads: KING GEORGE THE SIXTH The full reverse legend reads: SOUTHERN · 19 48 · RHODESIA G VI R K G ✛ HALF CROWN ✛ The date is split across the reverse legend — "19" appears to the left of the crowned shield and "48" to the right, flanking the central device. This split-date format is a distinctive feature of the Southern Rhodesia coinage retained from the original 1932 design and used consistently throughout the KM#24 series. |
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| Design | Copper-Nickel vs. Silver Predecessors |
The 1948 half crown is the second year of copper-nickel production for this denomination, following the transitional 1947 issue (KM#15b). The earlier half crowns were struck in silver: .925 sterling from 1932 to 1942 (KM#5, KM#13, KM#15), then debased .500 silver from 1944 to 1946 (KM#15a). The physical appearance of the copper-nickel coins is superficially similar to the silver pieces — same size, same weight, same design — but the base-metal coin has a distinctly different surface tone, is non-precious, and produces a different ring when struck. For collectors, the 1948 KM#24 issue represents a clean break from the silver series and the beginning of a straightforward five-year run. The weight of the copper-nickel KM#24 (14.14 g) matches the nominal weight of the silver predecessors, continuing the same physical format even though the intrinsic value was dramatically reduced. This was standard practice for wartime and post-war base-metal replacements across the British colonial coinage system: maintaining familiar weight and size prevented confusion in commerce. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The KM# 24 Half Crown Series (1948–1952) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | 1947 — KM#15b Transitional year |
The 1947 half crown (KM#15b) was the first copper-nickel half crown for Southern Rhodesia — a transitional year struck as a bridge between the wartime .500 silver issues (1944–1946) and the new post-war copper-nickel series. It retained the older obverse legend GEORGE VI KING EMPEROR. Mintage was very high at approximately 6,000,000 pieces, making it by far the most common single-date Southern Rhodesia half crown. It is a distinct KM type from the 1948–1952 series and does not form part of the KM#24 run. Worth noting for collectors: a 1947 copper-nickel proof half crown exists, struck for presentation purposes at the Royal Mint. Museum Victoria, Melbourne holds an example (item NU 14735). The 1947 proof is the rarest single piece in the entire Southern Rhodesia half crown series. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | 1948 — This coin KM# 24, first year |
First year of the KM#24 copper-nickel series. Modified obverse: KING GEORGE THE SIXTH (Emperor title removed). Reverse by Kruger Gray unchanged from 1932 original. Struck at the Royal Mint, London. The 1948 is generally the scarcest of the five KM#24 dates in uncirculated grades, though not dramatically rarer than 1949–1952 in circulated condition. It is the key date for collectors building a complete KM#24 date set in high grade. Mintage for the 1948 issue is not comprehensively documented in standard references. Worth verifying in the Royal Mint Annual Report for 1948 or Pridmore's British Commonwealth coinage volumes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | 1949, 1950, 1951 — Continuation |
Three further dates in the KM#24 series, all copper-nickel, all with the KING GEORGE THE SIXTH obverse and the unchanged Kruger Gray reverse. The 1951 date had a mintage of approximately 3,200,000. These three dates are the most commonly encountered KM#24 pieces in circulated grades and represent the easiest acquisitions for a date set. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | 1952 — Final year KM# 24 |
The final year of the KM#24 series, struck in the year of George VI's death on 6 February 1952. Coins dated 1952 were struck after his death — the dies having been prepared — making this the numismatic last word of the George VI Southern Rhodesia coinage. The KM#24 series was succeeded by the Elizabeth II copper-nickel half crown (KM#31), struck only in 1954 before the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland replaced the Southern Rhodesia colonial coinage. The 1954 Elizabeth II half crown (KM#31) is the rarest and most valuable single date in the entire Southern Rhodesia half crown series, struck in very small quantities as Southern Rhodesia's autonomous coinage was being wound up in favour of the Federation coinage. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mint & Production | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mint | Royal Mint, London | All Southern Rhodesia coinage was struck at the Royal Mint, London — located at Tower Hill until 1968, when the Mint moved to its current Llantrisant site in Wales. The 1948 half crown bears no mint mark, as was standard for Royal Mint production: the absence of any mark identifies it as a London issue. The Royal Mint had produced all Southern Rhodesia coinage since the first issue in 1932, when George Kruger Gray's designs were introduced. The consistency of production at a single mint simplifies attribution: there are no branch-mint varieties, no mint marks to attribute, and no quality differences between mint facilities to consider. No Southern Rhodesia coins were ever struck at branch mints (Ottawa, Sydney, Melbourne, Pretoria, etc.). All issues — from the first 1932 threepence to the last 1954 half crown — were produced at Tower Hill. This makes the series unusually straightforward to collect from an attribution standpoint. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mint | Copper-Nickel Composition |
The 1948 half crown is struck in copper-nickel — an alloy of copper and nickel without precious metal content. The exact ratio used in Royal Mint copper-nickel colonial coinage of this period was typically 75% copper, 25% nickel, the same alloy used for British domestic copper-nickel coinage introduced in 1947. This alloy produces a silver-grey appearance that superficially resembles the silver coins it replaced, is highly resistant to corrosion, and maintains good striking quality. It is entirely non-magnetic. The coin contains no monetary-metal value: its worth is purely numismatic. The shift to copper-nickel across the British colonial coinage in 1947–1948 was a global post-war monetary realignment. Sterling silver (.925) had been the standard for most colonial silver denominations before the war; wartime silver scarcity had already driven debasement to .500 in many series. After the war, silver was removed from colonial coinage entirely, replaced by copper-nickel — a decision that permanently ended the era of everyday silver coinage in the British Empire. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Valuation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Value | Market Overview | The 1948 Southern Rhodesia half crown is a collectible but not rare coin in circulated grades — accessible for collectors building a Southern Rhodesia type set or date set at VF to EF without difficulty. The coin's appeal is primarily thematic: it is the first-year issue of the post-imperial modified obverse, in copper-nickel, carrying Kruger Gray's celebrated crowned shield reverse that had by 1948 been in use for sixteen years. In uncirculated grades (MS-63 and above) it is meaningfully scarcer than circulated examples, and certified MS-65 examples would command a significant premium. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Value | Price Guide (approximate, USD) |
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| Value | Relative Values Within the Series |
Within the five KM#24 dates (1948–1952), the relative collecting hierarchy in EF to MS grades is approximately:
1948 (first year, moderate scarcity in UNC) > 1952 (final George VI year) > 1949–1951 (common dates). The premium for 1948 over 1951 is approximately 1.5–2× in EF–AU and up to 2–3× in MS-63+. The 1947 (KM#15b) transitional copper-nickel issue, though not part of the KM#24 series, is extremely common in VF–EF due to its large mintage and commands no premium over the 1948–1951 KM#24 issues. The silver predecessors (KM#5, KM#13, KM#15, KM#15a) are all more valuable than KM#24 issues at equivalent grades, reflecting their silver content and greater age. |
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| Collecting Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Collect | What to Look For | When examining a 1948 half crown, prioritise sharpness of the crowned shield on the reverse — the quartering within the shield and the crown's arch detail are the best guides to grade, as they wear first. On the obverse, the King's crown arches and cheekbone are the highest-relief points: a VF coin shows smooth wear there while an EF example retains most detail. The split date (19 to the left and 48 to the right of the shield) should be fully legible and crisp. The milled edge should retain full reeding in EF and above — flattened edge reeds indicate heavier circulation. For uncirculated examples, look for original copper-nickel lustre: a clean, bright cartwheel sheen in the fields without post-mint contact on the high points. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Collect | Problems to Avoid | Copper-nickel coins are susceptible to cleaning and polishing — a polished copper-nickel coin has a characterless, flat brightness without the directional die-flow lines of original lustre. Check under magnification for hairlines from polishing cloth or chemical treatment. Bag marks (contact marks from bulk storage or handling) are normal for uncirculated pieces but should be minimal on MS-64+ examples. Corrosion spots — small black or pitted areas on the surface — reduce value significantly and are difficult to remove without damaging the coin. Misidentification of the legend is occasionally a problem: the 1947 (KM#15b) reads GEORGE VI KING EMPEROR; the 1948 KM#24 reads KING GEORGE THE SIXTH — confirm the legend when buying, particularly for higher-grade purchases. Copper-nickel coins do not tone in the same way as silver. A 1948 half crown should appear uniformly silver-grey to slightly warm in original condition. Dark discolouration, uneven tone, or residue in the legends suggests environmental exposure or improper storage. Certified examples remove these concerns for significant purchases. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Collect | In a Collection Context |
The 1948 Southern Rhodesia half crown fits naturally into several collecting themes: a complete KM#24 date set (1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952 — five dates in copper-nickel); a Southern Rhodesia half crown type set spanning all six KM types (KM#5 George V silver, KM#13, KM#15, KM#15a .500 silver, KM#15b 1947 CN, KM#24, KM#31 QEII — covering 1932 to 1954 in seven coins); a George VI copper-nickel Commonwealth half crown set pairing it with the British half crown, the Australian florin, or other 2s 6d equivalents; or a Kruger Gray reverse design collection across the full Southern Rhodesia series, which uses his shield, antelope, Zimbabwe bird, axes, and spearheads across the full denomination range. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Collect | Related Coins | The closest related pieces are the 1948 Southern Rhodesia two shillings (KM#23 — copper-nickel, sable antelope reverse by Kruger Gray, same obverse legend change, same year), the 1948 one shilling (KM#22 — Zimbabwe bird reverse), and the 1948 sixpence (KM#21 — crossed axes reverse) — all forming the complete first-year copper-nickel 1948 set. The 1947 copper-nickel half crown (KM#15b) is the immediate predecessor with the earlier KING EMPEROR legend. The 1944–1946 .500 silver half crown (KM#15a) is the wartime silver predecessor. The 1954 Elizabeth II half crown (KM#31) is the final and rarest issue of the denomination before Federation coinage superseded it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1948 half crown is the point at which Southern Rhodesia's coinage quietly registered a new constitutional reality: the word Emperor, which had appeared on every George VI coin struck for the colony since 1937, was gone. In its place — KING GEORGE THE SIXTH. The coin is otherwise unchanged: same crowned shield by Kruger Gray, same split date, same milled edge. But the legend marks the moment India left the Empire, and the King's longest title went with it.
Sources: Krause, C. & Mishler, C. Standard Catalog of World Coins (KM# 24, Southern Rhodesia) · NGC World Coin Price Guide — Southern Rhodesia ½ Crown KM#24 (1948–1952) · Numista catalogue entry N# 6072 (KM#24) · uCoin marketplace — Southern Rhodesia KM#24 sold prices 2023–2026 · worldcoinsinfo.com — Southern Rhodesia coin values · Royal Mint Annual Report 1932 (p. 5) — Kruger Gray's design brief, quoted in Museums Victoria Collections · Museums Victoria Collections — items NU 14735 (1947 proof half crown), NU 14711, NU 14719, NU 14727 · colleconline.com — George VI 1951 Southern Rhodesia half crown: weight 13.9 g, diameter 32.2 mm, KM#24 · eBay completed sales — Southern Rhodesia KM#24 half crown 2023–2026 · Amazon marketplace listing — 1948 Southern Rhodesia KM#24 (i75970): copper-nickel, 32 mm, 14.18 g