1 Crown - Victoria 1st portrait (1839–1847)

One row for each year the 1 Crown - Victoria 1st portrait 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 1839 1 Crown - Victoria

The 1839 1 Crown - Victoria is a circulating 1 crown coin issued from 1839 to 1847, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 28.3g and measures 38mm across. Reverse design: Crowned quartered shield of arms within wreath, legend around, national flower emblems below.

Mintage figures are recorded for 3 years between 1844 and 1847, 394,200 coins in all. 1844 is the scarcest date, with 94,200 struck.

Common questions

History and design

The crown was a large coin that, as Wikipedia notes, did not circulate well in the 19th century, and Victoria's early crowns were irregular. Tony Clayton records an 1839 proof for that year's proof sets, followed by coins for circulation in 1844, 1845 and 1847. After 1847 no crown was struck for circulation until the Jubilee coinage of 1887.

Coin Hunter gives 94,248 for 1844, 159,192 for 1845 and 140,976 for 1847, a total of under 400,000. Wikipedia, citing Seaby and Spink, suggests the 1847 coins were made in limited numbers and possibly as keepsakes, while Clayton writes that some sources treat all of these as proofs but a number certainly circulated.

The obverse is William Wyon's Young Head, the uncrowned portrait of the Queen, signed W WYON on the truncation, with VICTORIA DEI GRATIA and the date below. The Royal Mint Museum calls this portrait, approved in 1838, the one that "undoubtedly takes pride of place" in Wyon's work.

The reverse, which Clayton describes as much the same as the half crown's, has a crowned quartered shield of the royal arms within a wreath, the national emblems below and BRITANNIARUM REGINA FID: DEF: around. Baldwin's notes eight strings to the Irish harp. The edge is lettered DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI with the regnal year in Roman numerals, VIII on an 1845 coin.

Varieties and errors

Coin Hunter lists 1844 and 1845 crowns with two styles of stop between the edge words, stars and cinquefoils (five-petalled flowers). The 1839 proof is a date of its own and was not issued for circulation.

Collecting notes

Read the edge to identify the stop type, and check that the lettering is complete and the edge has not been filed or tooled. The fine detail of the portrait and the harp strings on the reverse are the first places to show wear.

The same year as the last Young Head crown, 1847, also produced the Gothic crown, a quite different design. All crowns from 1818 onwards remain legal tender at 25p, according to Wikipedia citing the Royal Mint Museum.