½ Farthing - Victoria 1st portrait incl. Colonial (1839–1856)

One row for each year the ½ Farthing - Victoria 1st portrait – incl. Colonial 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 1839 Half Farthing - Victoria – incl. Colonial

The 1839 Half Farthing - Victoria – incl. Colonial is a circulating ½ farthing coin issued from 1839 to 1856, struck in copper. It weighs 2.36g and measures 18mm across. Reverse design: Central crowned denomination above date with rose, thistle and shamrock below date.

Mintage figures are recorded for 8 years between 1839 and 1856, 18,480,400 coins in all. 1854 is the scarcest date, with 677,300 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1869), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

The half farthing, worth an eighth of a penny, was first struck in 1828 for Ceylon. Victoria's first issue, dated 1839, was also for Ceylon. A proclamation of 13 June 1842 made the coin legal tender in the United Kingdom, and the Royal Mint Museum notes it was a nine days' wonder that never became popular here. Tony Clayton adds that it was criticised as far too small a denomination.

Coin Hunter's figures for the dates with published mintages total 18,480,984. 1844 dominates at 6,451,200, and Clayton says the vast majority of issued coins carry that date. The lowest figure is 1854 at 677,376. The last circulating date was 1856, and all copper coins were demonetised with effect from 1 January 1870.

William Wyon redesigned the coin for Victoria. The obverse uses the dies of his Maundy fourpence, a Young Head facing left with VICTORIA D: G: BRITANNIAR: REGINA F: D: around. The reverse was made quite different from the fourpence: HALF FARTHING beneath a crown, with the date below.

The emblem under the date tells the two types apart. The 1839 Ceylon issue has a rose with three leaves; from 1842, when the coin was current across the United Kingdom, it became a rose, thistle and shamrock.

Varieties and errors

The best-known variety is the 1844 with the E of REGINA over an N, recorded by Clayton, Coin Hunter and the Old Currency Exchange. Clayton and the Old Currency Exchange also list 1851 over 5851 and 1851 over 1801, which are much harder to find; Coin Hunter and Clayton's value list describe an 1851 with the 5 over 0. Clayton separately lists an 1856 large date.

Collecting notes

Clayton notes that proofs from the 1853 proof sets have the reverse in coin orientation, upside down relative to the obverse, although medal-orientation proofs are known. Turn any proof over to check. For a date set, 1844 is the easy coin, while 1854 and 1856 have the lowest published figures.

The Mint later struck 1868 cupro-nickel proofs in the same design, which were never issued.