A 1938 government-sponsored design competition for the commemorative half-crown, alongside the concurrently released penny and halfpenny, was won by New Zealand artist Leonard Cornwall Mitchell.

Unlike the Waitangi crown, the first New Zealand commemorative issue, a large mintage of 100,800 coins was produced and released directly into circulation at face value.

[1][2][3] The nation's first commemorative coin, the Waitangi crown, was originally intended to be dated 1933, released alongside the initial set of denominations.

[4] The treaty, signed in 1840 between various Māori chiefs and British representative William Hobson, asserted the sovereignty of the Crown over New Zealand, which had previously held unclear political control over the islands following the earlier Declaration of Independence.

[8] By August 1936, the New Zealand Numismatic Society began pursuing the creation of commemorative coinage to be issued for the centenary of the Treaty of Waitangi, which had increasingly been seen as a centennial for the country itself.

[10] Beginning in late August 1938, a competition was held for the design of the commemorative half-crown's reverse, alongside the proposed penny and halfpenny denominations.

[13] Sculptor Francis Shurrock's submission shows an early 19th century colonist, wearing a top hat, shaking hands with a contemporary aviator.

While greatly differing in the other denominations, their half-crown proposals were very similar; both featured a map of New Zealand, although Metcalfe additionally incorporated the stars of the Southern Cross.