Legendary: fewer than 100 minted. Sells occasionally: 4 verified sales in the last 12 months.
1 Penny - Victoria 1st portrait bronzed (1839)
"Young Head"
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 1839 |
| Denomination | 1 Penny |
| Mintage | 300 |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Non-circulating |
| Demonetised | 1869 |
| Composition | Bronze plated copper |
| Weight | 18.900g |
| Diameter | 34.0mm |
| Thickness | 3.00mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Obv. artist | William Wyon |
| Rev. artist | William Wyon |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
First uncrowned bust ('Young Head') of Queen Victoria left, legend around, date below.
Seated figure of Britannia facing right, trident in left hand and shield bearing the Union flag in right, legend around and national flower emblems in exergue.
bronzed 1p market value
Find this on eBay
Affiliatebronzed 1p price history
Daily limit reachedbronzed 1p value by grade
Realised auction prices · ⭐ Pro Expand rows for individual sale records| Grade | Latest | Median | 30d Δ | All-time range | Sales (1yr) | Total sales | Last sale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FDC | £1,700.00 🔒 | £950.00 | – | £580.00 – £1,700.00 | 0 | 7 | 06-03-2016 | |
|
Loading…
|
||||||||
| UNC | £1,200.00 🔒 | £1,150.00 | – | £800.00 – £1,200.00 | 0 | 3 | 07-06-2015 | |
|
Loading…
|
||||||||
| PR-65 | £2,868.57 🔒 | £2,868.57 | – | £2,000.00 – £3,000.00 | 3 | 6 | 11-05-2026 | |
|
Loading…
|
||||||||
| PR-64 | £1,962.71 🔒 | £1,900.00 | – | £1,600.00 – £1,962.71 | 1 | 3 | 12-01-2026 | |
|
Loading…
|
||||||||
About the 1839 1 Penny - Victoria – bronzed
The 1839 1 Penny - Victoria – bronzed is a collector 1 penny coin, struck in bronze plated copper. It weighs 18.9g and measures 34mm across. Reverse design: Seated figure of Britannia facing right, trident in left hand and shield bearing the Union flag in right, legend around and national flower emblems in exergue.
300 were struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1869), so its value is to collectors only.
Common questions
How much is the 1839 1 Penny - Victoria – bronzed worth?
Verified sold prices for the 1839 1 Penny - Victoria – bronzed run from £950 to £2,869 across 4 grades, taking the median for each grade. Condition makes the difference, so check the grade table above before pricing one.
Were 1839 pennies issued for circulation?
No. The 1839 penny exists only as a bronzed copper proof. Wikipedia's mintage list marks 1839 as proof only, and the first Victorian currency pennies are dated 1841, with 913,920 struck that year according to Wikipedia's table taken from Coincraft.
How many 1839 bronzed proof pennies were made?
No official figure is published. Both Wikipedia and CoinVarieties give an estimate of about 300 pieces. Treat that as an approximation rather than a Mint record: the number comes from auction and catalogue descriptions, not from a surviving Mint account.
What does bronzed mean on an 1839 penny?
The coin is struck in copper and given a brown bronzed surface at the Mint, not made of bronze alloy. The Royal Mint Museum's own example, RMM 4161, is catalogued as bronzed copper, weighing 18.82 g with a plain edge.
Who designed the 1839 penny?
William Wyon. The Royal Mint Museum credits him with the Young Head portrait approved for the coinage in 1838 and with the seated Britannia of the 1820s, which Victoria's copper pennies kept with REX changed to REG.
How do I identify the 1839 1 Penny - Victoria – bronzed?
Check the weight 18.9g and diameter 34mm and the metal (bronze plated copper) against the specification table on this page. The reverse design is described above.
History and design
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, and the Royal Mint Museum notes that her first coins began to reach circulation in the summer of 1838. The first currency pennies in the published mintage tables are dated 1841. The penny dated 1839 exists only as a proof, struck in copper and given a bronzed finish.
No official mintage is recorded. Wikipedia and CoinVarieties both give an estimate of about 300 pieces, far fewer than the 913,920 currency pennies of 1841 in Wikipedia's table. The Royal Mint Museum holds one in its own collection, RMM 4161, weighing 18.82 g with a plain edge.
The obverse carries William Wyon's portrait of the young Queen, known as the Young Head, with VICTORIA DEI GRATIA and the date below. The Royal Mint Museum says the Queen told Wyon 'You always represent me favourably', and the portrait stayed on her copper coins until 1860.
The reverse is the seated Britannia with shield and trident that Wyon had engraved for the 1820s coinage. Wikipedia notes it was largely unchanged from William IV's penny except that REX became REG, so the legend reads BRITANNIAR REG FID DEF. The CoinVarieties entry quotes a description of W.W. on the truncation and an ornamental trident.
Collecting notes
These are proofs, so condition is judged on the fields and the original bronzed surface rather than on wear alone. The museum example weighs 18.82 g, close to the 18.8 g CoinVarieties gives for the currency pennies of 1841 to 1860, so a much lighter piece deserves a closer look.
The copper coinage was demonetised on 31 December 1869, as Tony Clayton records, and the Mint accepted it at face value until 30 July 1873. A matching bronzed proof halfpenny is also dated 1839: see the 1839 bronzed halfpenny. For the currency coins, see the Young Head copper penny of 1841 to 1860.
Sources
The history, design, varieties and collecting notes on this page are drawn from these sources. Prices come from recorded sales, not from them.
- Victoria proof penny, 1839 (RMM 4161), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Great Britain 1839 penny, CoinVarieties (read 10 Oct 2026)
- History of the British penny (1714 to 1901), Wikipedia (read 10 Oct 2026)
- The Penny, Tony Clayton, Coins of the UK (read 10 Oct 2026)
- William Wyon, Royal Mint Museum (read 10 Oct 2026)
More 1 Penny coins from nearby years
