GREAT BRITAIN, Queen Victoria (1837-1901). 5 Pounds (5 Sovereigns), "Una and the Lion". (Au. 39.94g/39mm)*. 1839. Royal Mint, London. (Wilson & Rasmussen 278; Km#742). Obv: Bust of Queen Victoria facing left, with six scrolls and eleven leaves in her hair ribbon, engraver's mark: W. WYON, RA in relief above the neck cut, legend around: VICTORIA D: G: BRITANNIARUM REGINA F:D:. Rev: Crowned Queen Victoria, draped in a mantle, leading the British lion, bearing orb and scepter, date below: MDCCCXXXIX/W. WYON, RA, legend around: DIRIGE DEUS GRESSUS MEOS, edge plain and engraved: DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO REGNI TERTIO. A very rare example, with a mintage of only 400. Encapsulated by NGC Proof Details, repaired. The surfaces show some cracks and evidence of light polishing, but this does not diminish its exceptional rarity within British numismatics. This is a unique opportunity to add this first-rate piece to a top-tier collection. *Theoretical weight and dimensions.
William Wyon took a gamble. And it paid off. The allegorical or fictional representation of a monarch always carries a risk of social rejection, but on this occasion, everything seemed to be under control. William Wyon, engraver and central figure of numismatic neoclassicism, took a gamble. And it paid off, even though initial expectations weren't very high; the minting of just over a hundred pieces to commemorate the queen's coronation was barely planned. But then, exceptional technical and artistic skill came into play to do the rest, to dispel doubts, and to transform what was initially a small run into an iconic coinage that endured for almost fifty years and resulted in eight die variants, the main study of which we owe to Wilson and Rasmussen.
"Una and the Lion" is not just another coin. It is propaganda, a departure from tradition, beauty, controversy, Victorian art, epic… all in its purest form. The obverse, a clear example of the prevailing Neoclassicism, presents a young queen with softened features, depicted on the left, in high but extremely clean relief, a common feature in Victorian proofs. Wyon does not intend to represent Queen Victoria of 1839; he seeks an almost idealized, allegorical Victoria whose essence is, in some way, echoed in the groundbreaking reverse.
The scene on the reverse is taken from Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene," a eulogy dedicated to Elizabeth I around 1590, seemingly unremarkable at first glance. It appears to be a classical scene, but everything changes when we learn that Una, a young classical heroine walking alongside the lion, is the personification of Queen Victoria herself. This personification is the first of its kind in British numismatics and is truly powerful from a symbolic point of view: Una represents Truth, Purity, and Virtue, and she walks with composure beside the lion, symbol of England, at a time of profound political and social transformation, when the reigns of George IV and William I had also left a certain sense of weariness within the institution. The scene unfolds in a very balanced horizontal composition. Una, with her right arm extended in a guiding gesture, advances to the left with a smooth, harmonious movement in a wide, open field. The lion's figure, with its slightly more pronounced relief, enhances the sense of depth, and its front paws convey movement. This reverse side has nothing warlike about it, nor even heroic; it is clearly a political and ethical manifesto of a newly crowned queen who presents herself as a virtuous and renewed guide for the nation.
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