A Royal Numismatic Society of New Zealand proposal to issue a commemorative coin into circulation was supported by Minister of Finance Walter Nash.

Sketches by New Zealand artist James Berry were modelled by Royal Mint designer Percy Metcalfe, and the coin entered production in late 1948.

Citing declining health, the king indefinitely postponed the tour in November 1948, sparking fears by the Royal Numismatic Society that the coins may be melted down.

[1] In 1935, the Waitangi crown, of a previously nonexistent five-shilling denomination, was produced in extremely limited numbers and sold to collectors, without entering circulation.

With the Waitangi crown's release largely regarded as a failure,[2] the 1940 Centennial half-crown was produced in far larger quantities and entered circulation at face value.

[16][17] The obverse of the coin, like other New Zealand coinage of the period, shows an uncrowned bust of George VI designed by Humphrey Paget.