World Coin of the Week: Canada Five Cents of Queen Victoria

By Chris Chatigny, Cataloger

A mere week remains before the opening sessions of our Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio official auction of the Whitman Coin and Collectibles Baltimore Expo. Among the exceptional Canadian coins to be offered is a Five Cent piece, 1875-H, from the reign of Queen Victoria. This key date piece is a desirable coin regardless of grade, yet this piece’s grade greatly elevates its value.

Queen Victoria remains to this day the longest reigning British monarch in history, and holds the record for longest reigning female monarch in history. Her reign saw the inclusion of India into the British Empire after the British East India Company dissolved, and she took the title “Empress of India” in 1876. Victoria would have nine children, who would marry into various royal and noble families across Europe, and cause Victoria to be nicknamed “the Grandmother of Europe”.

Leonard Wyon’s engraving of a young Queen Victoria graces the obverse of this coin. She is depicted with a very youthful appearance, bust left, with a laurel wreath crown and her hair tied up in a bun. The inscription enumerates her regnal title: “VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA.” with “CANADA” appearing below the bust. The titles read as Victoria, by the Grace of God, Queen”. The reverse design depicts the value of “5 – Cents” in the center, above the date of 1875, surrounded by a wreath. The wreath consists of two branches joined at the bottom with a bow, with a crown at the top. Below the wreath appears the mintmark “H” which represents the Heaton mint in Birmingham. There are two varieties for this type and date, and this coin is of the Small date variety, evidenced by the smaller upper band on the numeral 5.

The coin has excellent eye appeal, with very nice crisp details visible and subtle gray patina transitioning nicely with the reflective surfaces. This stellar piece received a grade of Mint State 63 from PCGS, and shares this grade with only four other coins, with four coins graded higher. The combination of a key date variety with such a high grade ensures that this coin will command spirited bidding once it reaches the auction block.

Pre-bidding has just begun for this Queen Victoria Five Cents, so be sure to head over to its Auction Lot listing and place your bids! Preview this impressive coin along with the rest of our auction this October at the Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio office located in Irvine, California. For details please refer to the Auction Schedule/Details link under Current Auctions at www.StacksBowers.com. To schedule an appointment, please call 800.566.2580. While our Stack’s Bowers and Ponterio November Baltimore sale is closed for further consignments, we are currently taking consignments of world and ancient coins for our January New York International, and April 2014 Hong Kong sales. If you are interested in consigning your coins and paper currency (whether a whole collection or a single rarity) be sure to contact one of our consignment directors.