60 Years of Ghana's Coinage: From Shillings to Cedis, New Cedis, and now Ghana Cedis
1958 Proof Set: Half Penny

Owner Comments:

This Half Penny is one of seven coins in the Bank of Ghana's first Proof Set, PS1, issued in 1958. The set had a mintage of 6,431. I bought one of these sets in 2007, raw and in its original box, for $36.00. I am extremely pleased at how all seven coins graded out: 5 of the 7 (but not this half penny) are currently "top pop" or "none finer" at NGC. The previous owner(s) took great care of this set! Here's some background on the design of the 1958 coinage:

In March of 1957 the Gold Coast, a British colony in West Africa, achieved independence (the first Black African country colonized by Europeans to do so), and renamed itself Ghana. Kwame Nkrumah led the liberation movement, and became the nation's first President & Prime Minister. In 1958 Ghana issued its first national currency & coinage, based on the pound/shilling/pence system used by its old colonial master. Nkrumah's portrait is on the obverse of all 1958 coins, along with the legend "Civitatis Ghaniensis Conditor" - which identifies Nkrumah as the Founder of the State of Ghana. A large star dominates the reverse of the 1958 coinage, symbolic of Ghana's status as "the first Black Star to rise over Africa." (A black star is featured at the center of the national flag, and the country's national soccer team is known as the Black Stars.)