1 Farthing - Elizabeth II 1st portrait with 'BRITT:OMN' (1953)

About the 1953 1 Farthing - Elizabeth II – with 'BRITT:OMN'

The 1953 1 Farthing - Elizabeth II – with 'BRITT:OMN' is a circulating 1 farthing coin, struck in bronze. It weighs 2.83g and measures 20mm across. Reverse design: Eurasian wren left (Troglodytes troglodytes), date above and denomination below (from the Greek 'troglodytes' meaning cave-dweller).

6,131,037 were struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1960), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

The first farthings of Elizabeth II were struck in 1953, the year of her coronation. Unlike the penny, the farthing was needed in commerce that year, so the 1953 coins were issued for circulation as well as appearing in the coronation sets. Wikipedia and Coin Hunter both record 6,131,037 farthings dated 1953.

The 1953 coins are a one-year type. Their legend still described the Queen as ruler of all the Britains, and from 1954 that phrase was removed from every denomination. The farthing itself had little time left: only three more dates followed, and the coin was demonetised at the end of 1960.

The obverse carries Mary Gillick's portrait, chosen after a competition judged by the Royal Mint Advisory Committee. The Royal Mint describes the Queen as uncrowned and wearing a laurel wreath in the classical style. The Royal Mint Museum records that the softly modelled portrait wore easily, and that the Mint later engraved it much more deeply.

The legend reads ELIZABETH II DEI GRA: BRITT: OMN: REGINA F: D:, Latin for Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, queen of all the Britains, defender of the faith. Gillick's initials MG sit on the truncation.

The reverse is Harold Wilson Parker's wren, the small bird that replaced Britannia on the farthing in 1937 and continued unchanged into the new reign. FARTHING is below the bird and the date above.

Varieties and errors

Tony Clayton records four die pairings for 1953, from two obverses and two reverses. The obverses differ in where the upper arm of the cross points against the border beads and in how clearly the MG initials show. The reverses differ in whether the F and I of FARTHING point at a bead or between two. The pairing 2+B is the common one, 1+A comes from the 1953 plastic coronation set, and 2+A is the scarce combination.

Collecting notes

Check the legend first: BRITT OMN dates the coin to 1953 even when the date is worn. Tony Clayton's value tables list a 1953 proof as well as the ordinary strike, and his notes place one die pairing in the plastic coronation set, so a set provenance is worth recording.

To identify the die pairing, use a glass on the cross above the Queen's head and on the letters of FARTHING. The rest of the series, without BRITT OMN, is on the 1954 to 1956 farthing page.

No farthing has been legal tender since the end of 1960, so the coin turns up only in old accumulations, not in change.