Young Head coinage | Read 10 Min

The Young Head coinage consists of the issues of British coins with an obverse bust of Queen Victoria first used in 1838 while Victoria was still a teenager. Designed by William Wyon, the bust remained on some denominations of British coins until 1887, by which time she was almost 70 years of age and had ceased to resemble her depiction. Wyon's bust of Victoria also appeared on coinage for British dependencies.

The young queen sat for Wyon multiple times in August and September 1837. Wyon then created his coinage portrait of her, which was approved in February 1838. Minting with the portrait began later that year; some of the new issues had reverses by Wyon, others by Jean Baptiste Merlen. The new issue produced generally favourable reactions, especially the Una and the Lion reverse used for the five-pound piece.

The Wyon portrait of Victoria proved to be a favourite of hers, and because of that continued on the coinage even after she no longer resembled it. It was replaced on the penny and its fractions when the copper coinage was replaced with bronze in the 1860s, but continued on some of the gold and silver coinage. It was finally superseded by the Jubilee coinage in 1887. Wyon's portrait was imitated or reproduced from the time of its issue, and both the portrait and the Una reverse appeared on British commemorative coins in 2019.

Background and preparation

Silver (or other white metal) medal of a middle-aged man (William Wyon) facing right — William Wyon on a posthumous medal by his son, Leonard Charles Wyon, 1854

King William IV died on 20 June 1837; his niece, Victoria, was his successor. This change meant that a new coinage would be prepared. At this time, the Royal Mint's chief engraver, William Wyon, focused on the side of the coin bearing the monarch's portrait, the obverse, and the second engraver worked on the other side, the reverse.

Wyon had been chief engraver of the Royal Mint since 1828. Then, a battle with Benedetto Pistrucci over the position had been settled by making Wyon chief engraver and Pistrucci chief medallist, at equal salaries. Jean Baptiste Merlen (also known as Johann Baptist Merlen) was of Flemish origin, and had been working on official medals in Paris under the French First Empire. He emigrated to Britain and was hired by the Royal Mint, apparently at Pistrucci's recommendation. His formal position was as a temporary extra engraver, for he was, like Pistrucci, a foreigner ineligible by statute for the permanent salaried posts at the Royal Mint. Merlen in practice acted as second engraver, and that position was held vacant until after his retirement in 1844.

Victoria sat for Wyon at Windsor Castle on 25 August 1837, two months after she became queen, then again the following day and again two days after that. Victoria sat again for him on 15 and 16 September, enabling him to complete the coinage portrait, which is similar to the medal he had prepared to commemorate her accession. Pistrucci was also granted sittings; Wyon was to design the coinage and Pistrucci the coronation medal. There was still a bitter rivalry between the two at the Royal Mint, and each had his partisans; the coinage redesign took place amid a battle between the two camps in the newspapers.

Designs for the new coinage, together with an example of the sovereign were submitted to Victoria by the Master of the Mint, Henry Labouchere, on 15 February 1838, with the required designs having been described by an order in council dated 26 July 1837. They were approved on 26 February 1838.

The new coinage was subject to several delays. A Wyon supporter (likely Nicholas Carlisle) accused Pistrucci of ordering Royal Mint employees to work on the coronation medal who should have been helping to prepare the new coinage. Merlen, who engraved the reverses of the precious metal coins (the coppers were engraved by Wyon), was slow to complete his work, and did not complete the work until 1839. Then, the Royal Mint suffered difficulties with production, with coinage dies breaking before they struck an adequate number of coins, causing Wyon to visit the Monnaie de Paris at his own expense to see if the French could be of help. He found them hospitable (the Royal Mint had granted wide access to a party of French officials some years previously), and he was given an audience with King Louis Philippe. The visit does not seem to have solved the problems.

Wyon was able to utilise the same portrait of Victoria for all denominations by use of a reducing machine, which the Royal Mint had purchased in 1824, a duplicate of one Pistrucci had obtained for himself.

Designs

Obverse

The Young Head coinage bears a portrait of Victoria facing left, her hair bound by a double fillet and tied in a knot, from which a loose curl escapes. The coin design is a development of the medals Wyon had prepared for Victoria's accession and for the visit of Prince Henry of the Netherlands to the Royal Mint, all look back to Antonio Canova's sculpture Fountain Nymph. The numismatist Lawrence W. Cobb described it as a "classic portrait of Victoria ... the head of a lovely young girl ... the celebrated 'Young Head' design, which was destined to grace British and Empire coinage for decades and would inspire many imitations, both good and bad." Cobb cited the description of the issue by Stack's auction house, that Wyon had managed to "catch her spontaneous youthful charm and at the same time create an excellent likeness". According to the Royal Mint Museum, of Wyon's portraits of Victoria, that "approved for the coinage in 1838 undoubtedly takes pride of place. Wyon was clearly inspired by his admiration of the neo-classical style of his mentor John Flaxman to create an uncluttered and well-balanced portrait."

Kevin Clancy, in his volume on the history of the sovereign coin, stated that Wyon's "portrait transformed a monarch, not known for her beauty, into an attractive young woman. It is hardly surprising he became a favourite, and that his Young Head portrait was retained until Victoria was in her late 60s." According to André Celtel and Svein H. Gullbekk, in their own volume on the sovereign, "the beautiful features of this simple and uncluttered portrait flatter the queen, who was a grandmother in her late sixties before she allowed it to disappear from the coinage." Wyon's initials appear on the truncation of the bust on coins larger than the sixpence.

Reverses

The only five-pound piece of the Young Head series was dated 1839. The numismatist Richard Lobel calls it one of the most famous and attractive of all British coins. This piece, known as the Una and the Lion coin, is described by him as having "cult status". The numismatic author Peter Seaby deemed it "this famous coin designed by William Wyon". According to the numismatic writer Graham Bennett, it is Wyon's masterpiece. The Royal Mint's website characterises it, "The gold five-pound piece of 1839, though not as spectacularly rare as the Edward VIII pattern coins, is arguably one of the most beautiful coins in the world."

The symbolism on the coinage had been adapted to male monarchs, and something was needed to replace Pistrucci's Saint George and the Dragon reverse for the five-pound coin. Wyon's Una and the Lion coin was the result. Una and the Lion appear in Edmund Spenser's 16th-century epic The Faerie Queene. The obverse contains the Young Head of the Queen, facing left, while the reverse shows her as Una leading the lion to the left. A specimen in exceptional condition sold in 2021 for US$1.44 million (£1.04 million).

The other gold coins struck with the Young Head are the sovereign and half sovereign; both initially depicted the royal arms on the reverse. The royal arms as shown on the coinage represent a change from earlier reigns as they omit the arms of Hanover—under Salic law, women could not inherit that throne, and thus on King William's death, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, Victoria's uncle, became King of Hanover. On the sovereign, the arms are surrounded by a laurel wreath; beneath it, a shamrock and a thistle are threaded through a rose, symbolic of Ireland, Scotland and England. On the half sovereign, the wreath and floral emblems are replaced by ornate garnishing.

The other denominations bearing a wreathed shield were the crown and the half crown. The shilling and sixpence bore statements of its denomination, a continuation of the designs, by Merlen, used under William IV. These had been the first English or British coins to state their denomination on the reverse. The fourpence also continued its design, by Wyon, featuring Britannia that it had borne since its introduction in 1836. It was discontinued for circulation in 1855, recognising the rise of the silver threepence, bearing the same design as the Maundy threepence. The currency threepence was struck with Wyon's bust of Victoria from 1838 for colonial use, and beginning in 1845 for use in the United Kingdom.

The penny, halfpenny, farthing and third farthing were given a depiction of Britannia, by Wyon, like the one those coins bore under King William, and near-identical to the one introduced in the mid-1820s under William's brother and predecessor, George IV. One detail that was translated to some of Merlen's designs from Wyon's copper coinage was the intertwined rose, shamrock and thistle; it had appeared on Wyon's copper coinage for King George.

Of the small coins meant for colonial use, the three halfpence, a small silver coin with a reverse by Merlen, was intended for use in Ceylon and the West Indies; its resemblance to British coinage has caused it to be catalogued amongst British coins. The half farthing had been struck under King George and King William with a similar reverse to the larger coppers. With the fourpence, identical in size to the half farthing, now circulating, the half farthing was given a reverse design, by Wyon, which explicitly stated its value, lest the half farthing be plated with silver and pass for fourpence. The 1839 issue shows only a rose below the denomination; when it gained legal tender status in Britain in 1842, Wyon changed that for the intertwined flowers found on the larger coppers. The quarter farthing was not made legal tender in Britain, being too small to have any real purchasing power there, and bore a design similar to Wyon's 1839 half farthing.

Release and reaction

The first Young Head coins to be released were dated 1838, with sovereigns, half sovereigns, half crowns, shillings, sixpences, pennies, halfpennies and Maundy money. The shilling was first available on 11 August 1838 in limited quantities, with greater supplies expected soon, and was said by one newspaper to bear "an exceedingly handsome profile of her Majesty, by Wyon". Nevertheless, it was not until January and February 1841 that the coppers entered circulation in any quantity; not much precious metal coinage was struck until the middle of the following year. When the coppers were made available, a correspondent for The Athenaeum wrote of the pennies that they

display the same grace and skill in execution which characterize [Wyon's] productions. Here, however, all commendation must cease. In all other respects, I can only speak of this coin in terms of disapprobation. First, as to the quality of the metal: it is so ill-prepared, that upon very many of the pieces the surface has broken up in flakes. Secondly, as to the striking: I have not seen a single piece which is what is technically called well struck up ...

The Kendal Mercury, though, stated on 23 January 1841, "a beautiful specimen of new coins has been issued from the Mint, consisting of penny pieces ... on one side is a most excellent medallion likeness of her present Majesty, richly and elaborately finished ... the finish of the coins produced ... cannot be excelled in the most valuable materials." The Scotsman called the penny "very handsome" and Wyon's portrait "beautifully executed". However, not everyone considered the portrait to be successful, and The Times thought it inaccurate.