½ Penny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern (1859)
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year | 1859 |
| Denomination | ½ Penny |
| Mint | Royal Mint · Llantrisant |
| Circulation | Non-circulating |
| Composition | Copper-nickel |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Plain |
| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Grade scale | UK (EF/UNC) |
Central crown with legend around and small flower emblem below.
Central denomination with legend above, date below and floral pattern.
Halfpenny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern market value
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AffiliateHalfpenny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern price history
Daily limit reachedHalfpenny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNC | £600.00 🔒 | £600.00 (1) | – | £600.00 – £600.00 | 0 | 1 | 05-06-2011 | |
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| VF | £130.00 🔒 | £130.00 (1) | – | £130.00 – £130.00 | 0 | 1 | 08-10-2024 | |
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| Fair | £100.00 🔒 | £100.00 (1) | – | £100.00 – £100.00 | 0 | 1 | 05-06-2016 | |
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| PR-63 | £641.65 🔒 | £641.65 (1) | – | £641.65 – £641.65 | 0 | 1 | 15-08-2024 | |
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About the 1859 Halfpenny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern
The 1859 Halfpenny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern is a collector ½ penny coin, struck in copper-nickel. Reverse design: Central denomination with legend above, date below and floral pattern.
Common questions
How much is the 1859 Halfpenny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern worth?
Verified sold prices for the 1859 Halfpenny - Victoria Copper-nickel Pattern run from £100 to £642 across 4 grades, taking the median for each grade. Condition makes the difference, so check the grade table above before pricing one.
What is the 1859 copper-nickel halfpenny?
It is a pattern, a trial piece struck at the Royal Mint in 1859 while a replacement for the worn copper coinage was being chosen. The Royal Mint Museum holds cupro-nickel pattern halfpennies of that year. Bronze was adopted instead, and the new halfpennies appeared in 1860.
Was the copper-nickel halfpenny ever legal tender?
No. It is a trial striking, catalogued by the Royal Mint Museum as a pattern, and was never issued. The halfpenny actually issued from 1860 was struck in bronze, which Wikipedia says was chosen as harder and less subject to oxidation than copper.
How many 1859 copper-nickel halfpennies were made?
No number is recorded. The Royal Mint Museum's own collection includes several 1859 pattern halfpennies in cupro-nickel, bronze, nickel-bronze and aluminium-copper, at weights from about 2.3 g to 5.6 g, which shows how many trial versions were tried.
History and design
By the late 1850s the copper coinage was worn and unsatisfactory. Wikipedia's penny history records that in 1859 the Master of the Mint, Thomas Graham, persuaded Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, that a lighter and more durable coinage was needed. Tony Clayton notes that a number of patterns were produced before the final design was accepted.
This piece is one of those trials: a halfpenny struck in copper-nickel and dated 1859. It is a pattern, not a coin that was issued. Bronze was chosen instead, and the bronze halfpenny entered circulation in 1860.
The site describes a crown with a legend and a small flower emblem on one side, and the denomination with a legend, the date and a floral pattern on the other. The Royal Mint Museum's records of its cupro-nickel 1859 pattern halfpennies give the edge as plain and the die axis as 360 degrees, but do not describe the designs, and no designer is recorded for the piece.
Collecting notes
The Royal Mint Museum holds 1859 pattern halfpennies in cupro-nickel, bronze, nickel-bronze and aluminium-copper, some catalogued as decimal halfpennies, ranging from about 2.3 g to 5.6 g. Any example offered should be matched to a published pattern reference such as Peck, since several different 1859 trials exist. The bronze coin that was adopted is the bun head halfpenny.
Sources
The history, design, varieties and collecting notes on this page are drawn from these sources. Prices come from recorded sales, not from them.
- Object search: halfpenny 1859 pattern, Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Victoria pattern halfpenny, 1859 (RMM 4405), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (read 10 Oct 2026)
- Victoria pattern halfpenny, 1859 (RMM 4407), The Royal Mint Museum, via Museum Data Service (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)
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