Victorian Crown

The Victorian Crown is a large silver five-shilling coin of the United Kingdom. The example shown carries the left-facing veiled "Old Head" bust of Queen Victoria on the obverse, surrounded by the Latin legend naming her as queen, with the reverse showing Benedetto Pistrucci's classic image of Saint George on horseback slaying a dragon. The coin is dated 1893.

The crown was the largest regular silver denomination in circulation, worth five shillings, or one quarter of a pound. The 1893 date marks the first year of the "Old Head" or "Veiled Head" coinage, making this a substantial, widely recognized, and popular type of late-Victorian silver.

Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901, and her long coinage passed through three main portrait styles: the early "Young Head," the "Jubilee Head" of 1887, and the "Old" or "Veiled Head" introduced in 1893. This final portrait, by Thomas Brock, shows the aging queen veiled, and it appeared on the crown from 1893 until the end of the reign in 1900.

The reverse revives Benedetto Pistrucci's Saint George and the dragon, a design first used on gold and silver coinage earlier in the century and long associated with British crown-sized pieces. Struck at the Royal Mint in sterling silver, the crown was a heavy circulating and commemorative-scale coin, though by this era it saw more use as a prestige piece than as everyday small change.

Look for a large, heavy silver coin roughly 38-39 mm across bearing a left-facing veiled bust of Queen Victoria, with a Latin legend around the rim naming her as queen. The reverse shows Saint George, nude and helmeted, on a rearing horse driving a broken lance or short sword into a dragon beneath, with the date in the exergue reading 1893.

The "Old Head" crown was struck in sterling (.925) silver and is a substantial coin in hand, so a genuine example has real heft and a bright silver tone. The edge carries incuse lettering with a Latin inscription and a Roman-numeral regnal year, which on 1893 crowns reads either LVI or LVII. Wear typically shows first on the queen's cheek and the veil, and on the high points of Saint George and the horse.

The Old Head crown was struck in far smaller numbers than everyday Victorian silver, so it carries clear collector demand, but 1893 is among the more available dates in the series. Value is driven mostly by grade, edge-year variety, and eye appeal, with heavily worn examples valued as attractive large silver coins and sharp, lightly worn pieces commanding solid premiums.

The two edge varieties for 1893, LVI and LVII, can differ in scarcity and price, and any proof or high-grade example is worth substantially more than a circulated one. Because the coin contains a large amount of sterling silver, worn examples also carry a meaningful bullion floor. Treat any single figure as approximate and check recent sales for the specific grade and edge variety.