2 Pence - Victoria 1st portrait Colonial and Maundy issues (1838–1887)

One row for each year the 2 Pence - Victoria 1st portrait – Colonial and Maundy issues 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 1838 2 Pence - Victoria – Colonial and Maundy issues

The 1838 2 Pence - Victoria – Colonial and Maundy issues is a collector 2 pence coin issued from 1838 to 1887 in the Maundy Money series, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 0.94g and measures 13mm across. Reverse design: Crowned denomination dividing date within oak wreath.

Mintage figures are recorded for 3 years between 1838 and 1848, 2,209,000 coins in all. 1848 is the scarcest date, with 261,000 struck.

Common questions

History and design

By Victoria's reign the silver twopence had long since ceased to be everyday money in Britain. It survived because it was one of the four Maundy coins, given each Maundy Thursday to elderly recipients in a number matching the monarch's age. The Royal Mint Museum notes that money allowances replaced the old gifts of food and clothing in the 19th century.

This entry also covers a small colonial use. Wikipedia's Royal Maundy article, citing Coincraft, records twopences identical to the Maundy pieces struck for colonial use in 1838, 1843 and 1848, and CoinVarieties says they went to British Guiana and the Caribbean. Maundy output itself was small: CoinVarieties, quoting Krause, gives 4,488 for 1839, 4,752 in the 1850s and 1860s, and 9,167 by 1886. Wikipedia notes that in the 19th century far more pieces were struck than the ceremony needed, and that from 1846 the Queen asked for pieces for her own use.

The obverse carries William Wyon's Young Head of the Queen, the portrait the Royal Mint credits on its Victorian Maundy set listings. The Royal Mint Museum records the Queen telling Wyon, "You always represent me favourably."

The reverse is a crowned figure 2 within an oak wreath, with the date. Wikipedia credits this design to Jean Baptiste Merlen in 1822. Throughout the Young Head years it kept the earlier crown and the original shape of the 2, both of which were redrawn in 1888. The coin is sterling silver, 13 mm across.

Collecting notes

Tony Clayton notes that Victorian Maundy sets are relatively common because anyone could order them through a bank, and that Maundy pieces after 1820 rarely turn up in worse than very fine condition. CoinVarieties makes the same point: sets were kept, so the coins are easier to find than the small mintages suggest.

The colonial strikes of 1838, 1843 and 1848 cannot be told from Maundy pieces by design, so attribution rests on the date alone. The later Jubilee Head Maundy twopence shows the redrawn 2 for comparison.