After the death of George IV on June 26, 1830 and while he was succeeded by his brother William, The Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews, crowned as William IV, Sir William Wyon, the Chief Engraver of the Royal Mint at Tower Hill, London, commenced a series of dies, by express royal command from the superb plaster cast [bas-relief] prepared by Francis Legatt Chantrey [1781-1841]. When the King had the opportunity to admire it for himself, pleased him enormously, which was explained in detail by the master of the mint, John Herries in a letter written to the Mint Board dated October 28th, 1830, as follows:

"... Mr. Herries communicates to the Mint Board His Majesty's entire approbation of the Engraving of the Head of His Majesty for the New coin executed by Mr. Wyon, from the model prepared by Mr. Chantrey, to whom his Majesty was graciously pleased to sit for the purpose.

Mr. Herries futher acquaints the Board that it is His Majesty's pleasure that Engraving from the same model, and from no other, shall be used for all coins, whether in Gold, Silver or Copper that are to bear the effigys of His Majesty in order that there may be a perfect uniformity throughout the Coinage of His Majesty's Reign in that respect ..."  [1]    

Curiously, shortly after, the Master of the Mint, Mr. Herries, resigned his post.

The design of the new denomination, bear the right-facing head of King William IV circumscribed with Latin legend GULIELMUS IIII D :G: BRITANNIAR REX: F: D:, that translated as William IV by the Grace of God King of the Britons, Defender of the Faith.

As explained earlier, during this period, the dies for the obverses were engraved by Mr. Wyon.

Unexpectedly on June of 1837 the death of the King, without having a living legitimate child, placed his nice on the throne.

She was crowned on June of 1838 as Queen Victoria. Shortly after her coronation, Sir William Wyon, prepared entirely his own work, a wax model based in a sketch of the Queen drawn when she first sat for him as a young Princess in 1831 and, engraved the obverse punches and dies.

All non-gold coins under the reign of Victoria to be struck, were authorized through Proclamation dated July 5th, 1838. It does not mention any coins minted for the colonies, or anything relating to the 1½ pence coin . Nevertheless my hipothesis is that, since the Royal Mint never minted a coin that had not been authorized by the Crown, this was allowed in some way, which requires a separate study.

Δ  Close-up image of a paragraph that describes, outlined in red, the proclamation of the English crown, authorizing the production of the non-gold coins for the reign of Victoria, new monarch after the death of William IV. [2]

The three halfpence, bear the left-facing head of the Queen circumscribed with Latin legend VICTORIA D :G: BRITANNIAR: REGINA F: D:, that translated as Victoria by the Grace of God Queen of the Britons, Defender of the Faith. The attractive and well balance portrait without a crown is now commonly referred to as the "Young Head" type.

In the first years of production [1834 to 1843], the obverse dies for the coins were engraved by Wyon, aftermath [1860 to 1870] they were engraved by William Charles Wyon. For the good fortune of today's collectors , it served for the continuation of the series under her reign.

Aftermath coins truck in 1860, 1862 and 1870, they were engraved by William Charles Wyon.



Δ  This wax model is numismatically very important and is of the greatest historical interest. During many years this model has formed the centerpiece in the British Museum’s display of Victoria’s coinage with the caption:

Wax Study of Queen Victoria’s ‘young head’ portrait by William Wyon, c.1837.

The Janvier transfer engraving machine [so-called die-engraving reducing machine] cut the punches for Victoria’s coinage of this type from a version of this portrait, which was auctioned on September 26th, 2006 by Spink & Sons Ltd.  [3]

A:  Field of the coin, w/o letters or numbers.

B:  Device, Bust or effigy of the Monarch.

C:  Truncation of the bust or effigy of the Monarch. 

D :  Legends area.

E:  Colon within legends.

F:  Dentil or tooth.

G:  Rim of the coin or collar.

Δ  Diagram of the 1½ pence coin's obverse.

It show the denomination 1½ in numerals displayed in the center of the field beneath, the date, surmounted by the Royal Crown, all contained within an oaken wreath of two branches, united at the base with a tie.

Both the plaster and dies, at least from 1834 through 1843,  were prepared by the Assistant Engraver Jean B. Merlen. Aftermath coins truck in 1860, 1862 and 1870, they were engraved by William Charles Wyon.

Δ   Diagram of the 1½ pence coin's reverse.