1 Farthing - Victoria 2nd portrait 1st type (1860–1873)

One row for each year the 1 Farthing - Victoria 2nd portrait – 1st type 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; years with no sales yet fill in as sales are recorded. 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 1860 1 Farthing - Victoria – 1st type

The 1860 1 Farthing - Victoria – 1st type is a circulating 1 farthing coin issued from 1860 to 1873, struck in bronze. It weighs 2.83g and measures 20mm across. Reverse design: Seated figure of Britannia facing right, trident in left hand, shield with Union flag in right hand, denomination above, date in exergue, sea behind with lighthouse on left and ship on right.

Mintage figures are recorded for 12 years between 1860 and 1873, 56,460,800 coins in all. 1863 is the scarcest date, with 1,433,600 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1960), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

By 1857 a Mint survey found about a third of the copper coinage worn or defaced. Thomas Graham, Master of the Mint, persuaded Gladstone to replace it with bronze coins that no longer had to contain their face value in metal, and the new coinage arrived in 1860. The farthing fell from 22 mm and 4.72 g in copper to 20 mm and 2.83 g in bronze, dimensions it kept until the last issue of 1956.

Coin Hunter's figures for this first type total 56,460,830 over twelve dates. 1862 was the peak at 14,336,000, while 1863 at 1,433,600 is the lowest. No farthings are dated 1870 or 1871. The farthing was demonetised at the end of 1960.

Leonard Charles Wyon, son of William Wyon, designed both sides. The Queen took a personal interest and sat for him, and his portrait is known as the bun head after her hairstyle. The legend reads VICTORIA D: G: BRITT: REG: F: D:. Wyon first cut the dies in such high relief that they cracked, and had to engrave shallower ones before mass production could begin.

The reverse shows Britannia seated with trident and shield, FARTHING above and the date below, a lighthouse to her left and a ship to her right. It was the first farthing to name its value. The edge is plain.

Varieties and errors

1860 farthings come with beaded or toothed borders, and Clayton and CoinVarieties record a few mules pairing a toothed obverse with a beaded reverse. Clayton's die list, from Peck, gives several obverse and reverse combinations for 1860 and 1861, then a single pairing for 1862 to 1873. The 1865 over 2 overdate is recognised by Clayton, Coin Hunter and CoinVarieties. Coin Hunter also lists an 1862 with a large 8.

Collecting notes

CoinVarieties describes dates such as 1866 as common, so for most of the type condition matters more than date. For a date run, 1863 is the coin to find, with 1872 and 1864 next. Check 1860 borders and 1865 dates for the varieties. The type continues with a revised portrait as the bun head farthing of 1874 to 1895.