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5 Pounds - Victoria 1st portrait, 'Una and the Lion'
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1839 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Pounds |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | DIRIGE DEUS GRESSUS MEOS. MDCCCXXXIX W. WYON R.A. (Translation: May God direct my steps 1839) |
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| Additional information |
The "Una and the Lion" five-pound piece of 1839 was designed by William Wyon and issued as a pattern rather than a circulation strike — it was never intended for everyday use. Wyon based the allegorical composition on Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, depicting Victoria as the character Una leading the lion of England, a deliberately political image for a queen newly crowned at eighteen.
Survivors are nearly always in high grade for the simple reason that virtually none circulated. Contemporary accounts record Queen Victoria herself receiving presentation examples, and the coin was restrikes were produced in limited numbers through the mid-Victorian period to meet collector demand — distinguishable from originals by subtle die differences that remain a point of ongoing specialist debate.