The Royal Mint Museum houses one of the finest coin collections in the world, containing some of the most outstanding rarities of the modern British coinage.

In an effort to share this national treasure more widely, an item from the Museum will be selected and explained each month on the Royal Mint website. Over a period of time these short notes will form a fascinating insight into the Royal Mint and the coins it has made for over 1000 years.

The latest item from the Royal Mint Museum takes us back into the nineteenth century, to a rather unusual piece in the Mint collection that has so far eluded attempts at a full and proper identification. It is a uniface two-pound coin dated 1841 in 22ct gold with a typically Victorian design featuring a trident and two dolphins. It has come down to us, however, with no authoritative view as to the artist who executed the design, nor indeed of why the piece was struck in the first place.

There is some suggestion that it might have been made in connection with proof sets prepared during the early years of Victoria’s reign but there is no conclusive record. The coin carries no initials and although a member of the ubiquitous Wyon family might well have been involved, without further information we cannot say for sure. This delightful and, as far we can gather, very rare coin must therefore remain for the time being something of a mystery.