Great Britain 1857 penny
This specimen was lot 24935 in Heritage sale 3026 (Long Beach, October 2013), where it sold for $528.75. The catalog description[1] noted, "Victoria Penny 1857, Young Head, MS65 BN PCGS, boldly struck and gleaming with chocolate-brown cartwheel luster, with a hint of golden luster remaining and some lovely light bluish iridescent hues. Very few Victorian coppers have been assigned the coveted MS65 grade by PCGS." The copper pennies of Victoria were issued 1841-60 in fairly large quantities but are scarce compared to the massive issues of the smaller bronze pennies of 1860-94. The pure copper composition also caused the coins to wear more quickly than bronze, making high grade specimens even scarcer. Like the United States large cents of the same period, many varieties exist, avidly pursued by specialists. This is a slightly better date.
Recorded mintage: 753,000 (all varieties).
Specification: copper.
Catalog reference: KM 739; S.3948.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano, Warren Tucker and Scott Cordry, Heritage Signature Auction 3026, World & Ancient Coins, featuring the RLM Collection, Part Two, the Nogales Collection and the Goetz Medals Die Archive, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2013.
- Bressett, Kenneth E., A Guide Book of English Coins, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1962.
- Freeman, Michael J., The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain, Rev. Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2006.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Peck, C. Wilson, English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum, 1558-1958, 2nd Ed., London: Oxford University Press, 1970.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
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