3 Pence - George VI without 'IND:IMP' (1949–1952)

One row for each year the 3 Pence - George VI without 'IND:IMP' was struck. Prices are medians of verified sold listings matched to that year from the listing: circulated is worn condition up to Extremely Fine, uncirculated is About Uncirculated or better. A count in brackets means fewer than three sales behind the figure; a grey figure marked "type" is the median across every year, shown where that year has no sale of its own yet. Most types have been searched year by year only since October 2026, so later years are still filling in. Use the grade table below for a price by condition across all years.

About the 1949 3 Pence - George VI without 'IND:IMP'

The 1949 3 Pence - George VI without 'IND:IMP' is a circulating 3 pence coin issued from 1949 to 1952, struck in nickel brass (79% Cu, 20% Zn, 1% Ni). It weighs 6.8g and measures 21.8mm across. Reverse design: Three-headed thrift plant (Armeria maritima), denomination above, date below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 4 years between 1949 and 1952, 28,742,400 coins in all. 1949 is the scarcest date, with 464,000 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1971), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

IND IMP is short for Indiae Imperator, Emperor of India. After Indian independence a royal proclamation of 22 June 1948 dropped the title, and a coinage proclamation of 22 December 1948 gave the brass, bronze and cupro-nickel coins and the Maundy money new legends from 1 January 1949. The twelve-sided brass threepence was otherwise unchanged.

Output was small at first. Coin Hunter gives 464,000 for 1949, 1,600,000 for 1950 and 1,184,000 for 1951, before a jump to 25,494,400 in 1952. In 1953 the threepence took a new portcullis reverse with the portrait of Elizabeth II.

The obverse keeps Humphrey Paget's uncrowned portrait of George VI facing left, with his initials HP below the truncation. The 1948 proclamation sets the legend as GEORGIVS VI D:G:BR:OMN:REX FIDEI DEF, dropping the Indian title and spelling out the abbreviation for Defender of the Faith that had been F:D.

The reverse is still the thrift plant with THREE PENCE above and the date below. The original design was by Frances Madge Kitchener and was reworked by Percy Metcalfe before the coin's release in 1937. The proclamation again describes the coin as having an edge of twelve sides.

Varieties and errors

Tony Clayton records that rounded-corner collars, adopted during the war, gave way to sharp-cornered ones again in 1948 and from 1950. Both forms are known on 1949 coins, so a 1949 can be found either way.

Collecting notes

1949 is the key date of the whole George VI brass series, below even the 620,734 of 1946. 1951 is the next lowest of this type. Clayton says the mintages of 1946 and 1949 are particularly low and that he never found either in change in the 1960s. He also lists proofs dated 1950 and 1951.

When checking a 1949, look first at the legend: a coin reading IND IMP belongs to the 1937 to 1948 type. The brass threepence ceased to be legal tender after 31 August 1971.