1 Shilling - Victoria 3rd portrait 'Old Head' (1893–1901)

One row for each year the 1 Shilling - Victoria 3rd portrait – 'Old Head' 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 1893 1 Shilling - Victoria – 'Old Head'

The 1893 1 Shilling - Victoria – 'Old Head' is a circulating 1 shilling coin issued from 1893 to 1901, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 5.66g and measures 23.5mm across. Reverse design: Crowned shields of arms with national flower emblems between, all within Garter, denomination above, date below. Part of the inner legend on the coin is covered by the arms.

Mintage figures are recorded for 9 years between 1893 and 1901, 72,505,200 coins in all. 1901 is the scarcest date, with 3,426,200 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1990), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

After Joseph Edgar Boehm's death in 1890, a Committee on the Design of Coins chose Thomas Brock's portrait for a new coinage, with new reverses by Brock and Edward Poynter. Victoria disliked Poynter's first design for the shilling, and he prepared a second. A proclamation of 30 January 1893 made the coins current, to a much better reception than the Jubilee issue had received.

The committee recommended that every coin from the threepence to the half crown should state its value, so the shilling again carried ONE SHILLING, absent since 1887. It was struck every year until Victoria's death. Coin Hunter and Wikipedia agree from 1894, with output peaking at 10,965,382 in 1899 and falling to 3,426,294 in 1901, the lowest date.

Brock's obverse shows an older Queen facing left, wearing a diadem under a veil, with a pearl necklace and earring and the Garter ribbon and star. His initials TB sit below the bust, and the legend reads VICTORIA DEI GRA BRITT REGINA FID DEF IND IMP. Victoria did not sit for Brock, who worked from photographs, and George William de Saulles made the coining hubs under his supervision.

Poynter's reverse shows three shields bearing the arms of England, Scotland and Ireland, partly within the Garter, with a rose, thistle and shamrock between them. ONE SHILLING and the date run around, the date divided by the base of the Garter. The painter Philip Wilson Steer thought the lettering on the shilling oversized. The edge is milled.

Varieties and errors

Tony Clayton lists two obverses, with small lettering in 1893 and 1894 and larger lettering from 1893, and two reverses with a small rose between the upper shields to 1896 and a larger rose from 1895. The small-rose coins of 1895 and 1896 are the scarcer versions of those dates. Proofs were struck for 1893 only.

Collecting notes

Every date was struck in millions, so the interest lies mainly in the lettering and rose varieties. Proofs dated 1893 came from that year's proof sets, which the Mint sold to the public at a premium. The type replaced the large Jubilee Head shilling. Shillings stayed legal tender as 5p pieces until 31 December 1990.