Information about effigy: Queen Victoria - Portrait by William Wyon (Young Head)

Portrait by William Wyon ("Young head"). Young head of Queen Victoria to left. Hair bound with a double fillet and collected into a knot behind.

William Wyon RA (1795 in Birmingham - 29 October 1851), was official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death. The name of William Wyon is well known among coin and medal collectors because of his prodigious output and artistic skill. He designed the effigy of William IV in 1830, working from the bust by Sir Francis Chantrey, and "The Young Head", which graced Victoria's coinage from 1838 to 1860 on the pennies and the rest of the coinage until 1887.

The first of the portraits used for Queen Victoria’s coinage is known as the Young Head portrait. It was used with a number of slight modifications from the first issue of Victoria’s coins in 1838 until 1887, and even as late as 1895 on some bronze coins. These are known as simply the "Young Head", "First Head", "Second Head", "Third Head", "Fourth Head" and "Fifth Head" and differ by some details in the fillets in the Queen's hair, or by the quality of execution (later ones have lower relief and are of a visibly lower quality).