How Far Back Can We Go? Seventh Edition! Ended At 1380 Waiting On 1379

1949 A German Democratic Republic (Germany)
5 Pfennig.

1949 Czechoslovakia
100 Korun.
Commemorative issue :
700th Anniversary of Jihlava Mining Privileges.

1949 was the year the UK coins dropped 'Ind:Imp' (Emperor of India) and the sixpence, which had the King's cypher 'GRI' (Georgius Rex Imperator) was completely redesigned to show 'GVIR' (Georgius VI Rex) as shown on post boxes! The scarce coin in 1949 is the threepence, which has a mintage of only 464,000. The 1949 penny was the last penny actually released for circulation in mainland Britain until 1961. Many were put into store and released later: around 1970 it was still normal to get 1949 pennies in change in EF with traces of lustre:

Close-ups of coins showing the new obverse with Fidei:Def:



Across the Channel, France withdrew its aluminium-bronze 50-centime, !-, 2- and 5-franc coins from circulation: these were now all struck in aluminium:

The Turn 10-franc piece, made in silver before WW2, had been struck in cupro-nickel since 1945. 1949 was its last year of issue before it was replaced by a small aluminium-bronze coin:

West Germany introduced its brass-clad steel 5- and 10-pfennig coins in 1949:

Some world 1949 coins


Canada 1949 Dollar - Newfoundland (Welcome), this was the first common silver dollar since 1939, the 1945 - 1947 are all very scarce and the 1948 is insanely rare! No Canadian silver dollars were minted between 1940 and 1944.


Polish 1 Zloty coins - aluminium coins became a staple of the new communist bloc countries. Making coins out of bourgeois metals was frowned and coins were meant to be cheap and functional.


Cheap Brass and Cupro Nickel coins were rolled out for Hong Kong too from 1948, this replaced silver coinage issued before WW2. Bizarrely Hong Kong had notes from 1 cent at the time too!


West Germany issued their first coins in 1949 with the inscription Bank Deutscher Lander (Bank of the Germans) and this changed in 1950 when West Germany was formally established. In 1949 it was still the British, French and American occupied sectors (The Soviet sector and big parts of Berlin became East Germany in Oct 1949).

Already in 1949, Germany was bouncing back from WW2 and Nazism was a thing of the past. A decade later West Germany was a rich and democratic leading nation in Post War Europe.

These were the first real coins since the last Nazi coins in 1942. Banknotes and even stamps were used as currency until 1948 when Deutsche Mark notes were issued.

1949 Uk
1/2 Penny-George VI without 'IND:IMP'.
1 Shilling George VI English crest; without 'IND:IMP'
1 Six Pence George VI 1st coinage
1 Schilling George VI Scottish crest; without 'IND:IMP'

1949 UK.
1 Penny - George VI without 'IND:IMP'

1948 was an interesting year in NZ coinage. All the coins were changed from "George VI King Emperor" to "King George The Sixth" after India's independence and the Kings demotion from Emperor to mere King.

There was also no pennies or halfpennies minted in 1948.


Numbers of coins minted were fairly high, but not as high as 1947 or 1950. The shilling was 1 million which is high for shillings.

Again like all early Cupronickel coins, EF or better coins are rare and VF are scarce. Your average 1948 coin is VG to Fine as they got years of use and the middle 3 coins even more use as 5c, 10c and 20c coins into the millienium.
My group has an EF 3d and 6d, a near EF halfcrown, VF shilling and a gFine Florin (Worn - yet better than most 1948 Florins).



All Australian coins were minted except the Florin, which took its first absence since 1937.

1948 dated 6d had a low mintage of 1.59 million but are not seen as rare. The shilling also back after 1947's absence had a low mintage of 4 million too. The 3d is plentiful and the Perth penny is scarce and Melbourne Halfpenny scarce (Mine of course are the common combination). My coins are pretty nice and a contrast from the Aussie silver with Kiwi muck metal.

Just one more year of muck metals and back to the age of imperial silver