Old Head coinage

The Old Head coinage or Veiled Head coinage were British coins struck and dated between 1893 and 1901, which featured on the obverse a portrait by Thomas Brock of an aged Queen Victoria wearing a diadem partially hidden by a widow's veil. It replaced the Jubilee coinage, struck since 1887, which had been widely criticised both for the portrait of the Queen, and because the reverses of most of the coins did not state their monetary values. Some denominations continued with their old reverse designs, with Benedetto Pistrucci's design for the sovereign extended to the half sovereign. New designs for some of the silver coinage were inaugurated, created either by Brock or by Edward Poynter, and all denominations less than the crown, or five-shilling piece, stated their values.

As early as 1888, consideration had been given to replacing the Jubilee coinage with a new design, but officials preferred to wait. The designer of the Jubilee coins' obverse, Sir Joseph Boehm, died in 1890, and soon thereafter, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Goschen, appointed a Committee on the Design of Coins to consider the matter. That committee reported in 1892, proposing new reverse designs for some denominations, whilst other coins' reverses were to remain the same. Some alterations had to be made after the report, but the new coins were issued in early 1893 to generally positive reviews.

The Old Head coinage became the first to bear, as part of the monarch's royal titles, IND IMP (Indiae Imperatrix), the Latin for Empress of India. Although Victoria was not authorised to use this title in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, and his cabinet had approved its use on the coinage in 1892 because the coins also circulated in the colonies. The Old Head coinage originally consisted only of gold and silver coins, but in 1895, the Brock head of Victoria was placed on the bronze coinage (the penny and its fractions) as well. They continued to be struck until the death of Victoria in 1901 necessitated a change of design for the obverse; beginning in 1902, the coinage bore the head of her successor, Edward VII.