1886 United Kingdom Silver Penny

25 cent melt on a .925 coin, that must be tiny. Cool!

Beautiful pieces and strictly ceremonial.

They did enter circulation at times like yours. Here's mine, 30 years older but virtually the same thing.




The number issued was a few thousand sets per year, but an interesting way how Maundy took place was done each year.

(Please ignore if you know).

Each year around Easter the ruling sovereign would distribute purses full of Maundy coins to needy pensioners. The number distributed depended on the age of the sovereign.

In 1886, the Queen was 67 years old, but it was before her birthday in May, so it may have been 66 - meaning she would give 66 pensioners a purse of 66 silver pence, made up of the coins 4, 3, 2, and 1 penny.

In 1857, my coin it was only 37 pence to 37 pensioners!

The ritual goes back to the middle ages, but the earliest proper Maundy coins are from Charles II (1660s) and not every year saw them until the time of Victoria.

This year the Queen would have distributed 93 or 94 pence to the same number of pensioners, the most ever.

The coins were sterling silver until 1920, then 50% until 1946. Surprisingly with cupronickel in 1947 they went back to sterling silver maundy coins and it remains today even in this decimal age!

Just to add to @Princetane 's description as to how they were issued, which is all correct, however more coins were also made available to collectors in special presentation boxes. Until at least WW2 the way to get them was to request them through your bank. Numbers minted were governed by demand, so some years ended up scarcer than others.

More recently they can be bought from The Royal Mint direct.

Most single coins from Victoria onwards sell individually for £10 to £20 - mostly to people looking to complete year sets. Complete sets start around £100 and can make £200 if in really good matching condition with their issue box.
Earlier ones can make many £100s.

"Sometimes" seems to be the answer. There are none that I can see on their website at the moment, but some of their year sets in recent years have included them. The 2006 set was certainly one.
I am guessing the 2021 set would be available around Easter time if they are releasing it.

Came to this thread expecting to see a normal 1886 bronze penny that had been silver-dipped.

Pleasantly surprised.