Wikipedia article of the day for March 12, 2026

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 12, 2026 is Young Head coinage.
The Young Head coinage consists of the issues of British coins with an obverse bust of Queen Victoria first used in 1838 while she was still a teenager. The bust was designed by William Wyon and remained on some British coins until 1887, by which time she was almost 70 years of age and had ceased to resemble her depiction. The young queen sat for Wyon in August and September 1837. Wyon then created his coinage portrait of her, which was approved in February 1838, and production began later that year. Some of the new coins had reverses by Wyon, others by Jean Baptiste Merlen. The new issue produced generally favourable reactions, especially the Una and the Lion reverse used for the five-pound piece. The Young Head portrait was finally replaced by the Jubilee bust in 1887. Wyon's Young Head bust was reproduced on coins for British dependencies and imitated on private issues of tokens. Both the portrait and the Una reverse appeared on British commemorative coins in 2019.