Queen Victoria

Victoria (1819–1901) became Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837. William Wyon's 1839 gold proof five-pound piece bears her Young Head portrait on the obverse and depicts Victoria as Una guiding the British lion on the reverse, inspired by Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene. According to the Royal Mint Museum, the coin was designed for collectors' specimen sets of early Victorian coinage. Sources: Royal Mint Museum, 'Una and the lion five-pound piece'; Museums Victoria, Item NU 1025.