1893 Victoria Veiled Head Gold Full Sovereign coin

Many believe that the Veiled Head portrait of Queen Victoria by Sir Thomas Brock shows the queen in mourning for her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Following Prince Albert’s death, Queen Victoria’s grief was so deep that she wore traditional black mourning clothes for the rest of her life. A stark contrast to the celebratory portrait it replaced, it is a great example of how monarchs used coinage to present themselves to their subjects through their money.