Penny 1952, Coin from United Kingdom - detailed information

The British pre-decimal penny coin, abbreviated as 1d (from "denarius" - the Roman coin from which the penny is directly descended), was a unit of currency that equalled one two-hundred-and-fortieth of a pound sterling (there were 20 shillings to a pound, and 12 pence to a shilling so one pound was equal to 240 pence).

The denomination continues the tradition of earlier penny coins of Great Britain, which also featured the figure of Britannia. The bronze coins of these specifications replaced the larger copper pennies which were issued until 1860. The new, more durable, alloy was composed of 95 parts of copper, four of tin and one of zinc. Between 1860 and 1895, the penny had the third Britannia design on the reverse, and Queen Victoria's "Bun Head" effigy. In 1895, the reverse was updated to this fourth Britannia design - which is a simplified version of the earlier design by Leonard Charles Wyon, and the obverse to the Queen's "Veiled Head" portrait. Unlike the smaller denominations, which were redesigned for the new coinage of King George VI in 1937 (see the Ship Halfpenny and the Wren Farthing), the penny did not get a new design and retained the classic Britannia reverse until the end.

In 1952, no one penny coins were made for circulation. A single (unique) penny was made in proof grade; its existence was not known publicly until its initial appearance at a numismatic auction in October of 1997, some 45 years after it was struck.