1 Farthing - Elizabeth II 1st portrait without 'BRITT:OMN' (1954–1956)

One row for each year the 1 Farthing - Elizabeth II 1st portrait – without 'BRITT:OMN' 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 1954 1 Farthing - Elizabeth II – without 'BRITT:OMN'

The 1954 1 Farthing - Elizabeth II – without 'BRITT:OMN' is a circulating 1 farthing coin issued from 1954 to 1956, 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).

Mintage figures are recorded for 3 years between 1954 and 1956, 14,342,400 coins in all. 1956 is the scarcest date, with 1,996,800 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1960), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

From 1954 the farthing carried a shorter legend: the words BRITT OMN, describing the Queen as ruler of all the Britains, were dropped from the whole coinage after a single year. Wikipedia, citing standard catalogues, links the change to the changing nature of the Commonwealth, which by then included republics.

Only three dates were struck to the new pattern. Wikipedia and Coin Hunter give 6,566,400 for 1954, 5,779,200 for 1955 and 1,996,800 for 1956, a total of 14,342,400. Tony Clayton notes that in its later years the farthing was increasingly little used, and 1956 was the last farthing minted.

By the end of the 1950s every bronze coin cost more to make than it was worth, and Wikipedia records that removing the farthing helped clear the way for changes to the bronze coinage. The coin was gradually withdrawn from 1959 and demonetised at the end of 1960.

The obverse is Mary Gillick's laureate portrait of the young Queen, now with the legend ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA F: D:, meaning Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, queen, defender of the faith. The Royal Mint Museum records that the portrait was soft and wore easily, and that the Mint engraved it much more deeply in the years after its first appearance. Clayton dates that sharper, deeper cut portrait to the 1954 redesign of all denominations.

The reverse keeps Harold Wilson Parker's wren, introduced in 1937, with FARTHING below and the date above. It was the last design the farthing ever carried.

Collecting notes

By mintage 1956 is the scarce date of the three, with under a third of the 1954 figure, so it is the date to check first in an accumulation. The 1954 and 1955 coins are far more plentiful.

No recognised varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin. The die varieties of the farthing belong to the one-year 1953 BRITT OMN farthing, which is told apart by its longer legend.

None of these coins has been legal tender since the end of 1960, so they no longer turn up in change and survive mainly in old accumulations and collections.