East Africa 1920-H cent
This specimen was lot 74374 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2024), where it sold for $288. The catalog description[1] noted, "EAST AFRICA. Cent, 1920-H. Birmingham (Heaton) Mint. George V. NGC MS-62. SCARCE as a Mint State survivor; only about 30% of the original mintage was released into circulation. Lustrous and permeated with gentle champagne tone." East Africa was an administrative grouping of the British colonies of Kenya, Uganda and British Somaliland. Tanganyika was added in 1919 after it was seized from the Germans. The original currency system was 100 cents = one florin (two shillings). In 1922, this was changed to 100 cents = one shilling. This meant that the issues of 1920 (cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents and florin) were useless and most were melted down. The coinage has been obsolete since the member colonies obtained independence in the early 1960's.
Recorded mintage: est. 2,908,000 plus 20 to 30 proofs.
Specification: copper-nickel.
Catalog reference: KM-12.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, February 2024 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
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