Description

Victoria (1819–1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional title of Empress of India. She inherited the throne at the age of 18, after her father's three elder brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and was longer than that of any of her predecessors. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire.

There are some varieties involving the design of the trident and the spacing of the colons in the inscription. Usually, the trident is ornamental, but between 1853 and 1857 a plain trident version also exists. The close colon variety has the colon after DEF obviously close to the F, while the far colon variety has it about halfway between the F and Britannia's foot.

Years where more than one circulation type exists are as follows:

1841: with and without colon after REG
1843: with and without colon after REG
1846: close and far colon
1847: close and far colon
1848: 1848 over 1846 | 1848 over 1847 | plain date
1851: close and far colon
1853: close colon with plain trident | far colon with ornamental trident | closer colon with ornamental trident
1854: close colon with plain trident | close colon with plain trident and 1854 over 1853 | far colon with ornamental trident
1855: close colon with plain trident | far colon with ornamental trident
1856: close colon with plain trident | far colon with ornamental trident
1857: close colon with plain trident | far colon with ornamental trident
1858: 1858 over 1857 | plain date W.W. on truncation | plain date plain truncation
1860coins are all 1860 over 1859 and were not issued for circulation.