Maundy pennies were never intended for circulation — distributed annually by the monarch to selected elderly recipients on Maundy Thursday, the number of recipients matching the sovereign's age. Victoria was in her mid-seventies to early eighties during this run, so sets from her final years contain correspondingly more pieces. The third portrait, modeled by Thomas Brock, was adopted in 1893 partly to address longstanding complaints that the previous effigy had flattered the aging queen too generously.
Maundy pennies were never intended for circulation — distributed annually by the monarch to selected elderly recipients on Maundy Thursday, the number of recipients matching the sovereign's age. Victoria was in her mid-seventies to early eighties during this run, so sets from her final years contain correspondingly more pieces. The third portrait, modeled by Thomas Brock, was adopted in 1893 partly to address longstanding complaints that the previous effigy had flattered the aging queen too generously.