Penny (New Zealand pre-decimal coin)

"New Zealand penny" redirects here. For the post-decimilisation New Zealand penny, see New Zealand one-cent coin.

One cent

New Zealand
Value	1d (£NZ)
Mass	9.45 g
Diameter	31.75 mm
Edge	Plain
Composition	95.5% copper, 1.5% zinc, 3% tin (1940 - 1959) 97% copper, 2.5% zinc, 0.5% tin (1960 - 1965)
Years of minting	1940-1965
Obverse
Design	Uncrowned bust of George VI
Designer	Humphrey Paget
Reverse
Design	A tūī surrounded by kōwhai blossoms
Designer	Leonard C. Mitchell

The New Zealand penny is a large one-cent bronze coin issued from 1939 to 1965. Introduced seven years after the larger denominations of New Zealand pound coinage, the coin's issuing was scheduled to align with the centennial of the Treaty of Waitangi and the New Zealand centennial, alongside the halfpenny and centennial half-crown. Featuring the standard portrait of the ruling monarch on the obverse, the reverse features a tūī bird perched atop a kōwhai branch.

Following the decimilisation of New Zealand currency in 1967, the coin was demonetised and replaced with a smaller one-cent coin also informally called a penny.

Background

Further information: Coins of the New Zealand pound

While the pound sterling had been the legal tender in New Zealand since 1858, various one and half-cent copper tokens minted by local tradesmen circulated during the mid-19th century in the New Zealand colony due to a lack of British imperial coinage. The first known penny tokens began mintage in 1857, and by their cessation in 1881 formed about half of the copper coinage circulating in the colony. They were officially demonetised in 1897, as supply of British pennies and halfpennies became reliable.

The sudden influx of large amounts of Australian coinage into New Zealand in the early 1930s, coupled with rampant currency smuggling in response to the devaluation of the New Zealand pound relative to the pound sterling, prompted the creation of a distinct national coinage. The Coinage Act, 1933 defined the one-cent piece as a 1¼-inch coin weighing 9.45 g. Silver coinage began circulating the same year, but no immediate need was seen for the design or introduction of domestic pennies and halfpennies, as large amounts of British and Australian copper coins were still in circulation.

Design and introduction

In 1936 the New Zealand Numismatic Society, often serving as an advisory body to the national government on coinage issues, began to press for the introduction of bronze coinage by 1940 to correspond with the hundredth anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. At an October 1937 meeting of the government-appointed National Historical Committee, Under-Secretary of Internal Affairs Joe Heenan formally proposed the issue of bronze denominations in 1940, alongside a commemorative medal and half-crown. In June 1938, a committee headed by Assistant Secretary Athol MacKay and joined by various members of the National Historical Committee was formed to facilitate the approval of submitted designs for the new coinage. For the design of the penny and halfpenny, a modest prize of £25 each was offered. Just over a month was allowed to submit designs.

Tūī perched on a kōwhai branch as depicted by J.G. Keulemans, possibly used as a reference for Mitchell's design

Design proposals

Kruger Gray and Percy Metcalfe, Royal Mint employees who had designed previous New Zealand coinage, were the only artists outside the country to submit designs. Metcalfe's resubmitted a "baffling" design previously proposed for the shilling, a toki poutangata (a greenstone Māori adze) superimposed with a whakapakoko rākau or godstick, a ceremonial staff used by Māori priests. Gray's penny design featured the prow of waka taua, a Māori war canoe. A local art instructor, Thomas Jenkin, also featured a waka taua on his penny proposal, depicting it alongside a silver fern at seashore with several warriors aboard.

Francis Shurrock, a local sculptor and art teacher, submitted multiple designs. One penny design showed a Māori tekoteko figurine, with the other featuring a fern and a triumphant rugby player holding a ball. A modified version of this design would be submitted in 1966, to public outcry, as a proposed 20 cent piece. James Berry, who had previously worked alongside Metcalfe on the reverse of the Waitangi crown, proposed a full suite of coinage including a one-cent piece featuring the HMS Endeavour, the ship commanded by Captain Cook in his mid-18th century expeditions to New Zealand.

Leonard C. Mitchell's design, featuring a tūī songbird perched atop a blossoming kōwhai branch, was ultimately selected by the committee. This continued a motif of native birds on New Zealand coinage, alongside the kiwi on the florin and huia on the sixpence. Mitchell's original large-scale model was highly illustrative, with the designer noting on the back of a submitted photograph "Have kept detail down as much as possible but if necessary further elimination could be made." William Perry, Chief Clerk of the Royal Mint, criticized the design, noting that its design would not transfer to that of a physical coin. The Royal Mint Advisory Committee recommended that the feathers be rendered in greater relief.

With Mitchell's design approved, Percy Metcalfe was tasked by the Royal Mint with creating a plaster model for the coin. Unlike his rendering of the halfpenny, he made significant changes to the achievement of the coin, increasing the depth of the feathers while simplifying the kōwhai foiliage. High Commissioner Bill Jordan approved the design in June 1939, and the coin entered production.

Mintage and production

Although initially planned to be released alongside the Waitangi centennial in February 1940, the first pennies entered circulation in December 1939 due to an emerging shortage of British pennies in New Zealand. The alloy composition of the coin was changed in 1960 to include significantly less tin. In anticipation of the decimilisation in 1967, there were some calls to retain the popular tūī design on the new one-cent piece. However, this was dismissed due to government support for an entirely new set of coinage.

A 1965 penny, the final issue prior to decimalisation, featuring Elizabeth II

George VI Penny Mintage

Date	Mintage
1940	5,424,000
1941	1,200,000
1942	3,120,000
1943	8,400,000
1944	3,696,000
1945	4,764,000
1946	6,720,000
1947	5,880,000
1948	0
1949	2,016,000
1950	5,784,000
1951	6,880,000
1952	10,800,000

Elizabeth II Penny Mintage

Date	Mintage
1953	2,400,000
1954	1,080,000
1955	3,720,000
1956	3,600,0000
1957	2,400,000
1958	10,800,000
1959	8,400,000
1960	7,200,000
1961	7,200,000
1962	6,000,000
1963	2,400,000
1964	18,000,000
1965	200,000