1879 Great Britain Penny - VF Detail - UK One Penny 1879 - Queen Victoria 1 Penny - Bronze - Penny 1879

This listing is for one 1879 Great Britain One Penny, as pictured. Excellent detail! 

During most of the 18th century, the penny in the UK was a small silver coin not typically seen in circulation, and that was made to be used for royal charity. Beginning in 1787, the chronic shortage of good money resulted in the circulation of private tokens, including large coppers tokens valued at one penny. In 1797 industrialist Matthew Boulton gained a contract to produce official pennies at his Soho Mint in Birmingham; he struck millions of pennies over the next decade. After that, it was not until 1825 that pennies were struck again for circulation, and the copper penny continued to be issued until 1860.

By the late 1850s, the state of the copper coinage was deemed unsatisfactory, with quantities of worn oversized pieces, some dating from Boulton's day, still circulating. They were replaced by lighter bronze coins beginning in 1860; the "Bun penny", named for the hairstyle of Queen Victoria on it, was issued from then until 1894. The final years of Victoria's reign saw the "Veiled head" or "Old head" pennies, which were coined from 1895 until her death in 1901.