Sovereign: Victoria (obverse); Shield of Arms (reverse) (1839): Art, History and Details

Sovereign: Victoria (obverse); Shield of Arms (reverse) (1839) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is William Wyon (British, 1795–1851).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

With the end of the rule of the House of Hanover, whose last direct representative on the British throne was William IV (died 1837), the royal arms that had ceased to show the French pretention at the end of the first coinage of George III were now further simplified. In each quarter from top right to bottom left: 1. England; 2. Scotland; 3. Ireland; 4. England.

Object facts

• Title: Sovereign: Victoria (obverse); Shield of Arms (reverse)
• Date: 1839
• Creator attribution: William Wyon (British, 1795–1851)
• Culture: England, Victoria, 1837-1901
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 2.2 cm (7/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Numismatics
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.218

A detail from the museum

William Wyon was the official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Emery May Norweb. English Gold Coins, Ancient to Modern Times, On Loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art from the Norweb Collection. [Catalog. 1968.]

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.