Victorian Silver Britannia Seated Statuette. 19th century A.D. A silver plaque formed as Britannia seated right, wearing crested helmet, long robes and holding a spear, set on a possibly later gold-coloured base; mounted on a custom-made display base. Cf. for similar images in coins of Queen Victoria, in Richardson, R., Coins of England & the United Kingdom, pre-decimal issues, London, 2017, pp.478ff. 14.5 grams, 40 mm including stand (1 5/8 in.) Acquired 1960s-1990s. Late Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister. Britannia, as the embodiment of Great Britain, appeared well before the nineteenth-century’s Victorian Era, when this iconography was diffused. Young head copper pennies with this image were issued for Queen Victoria from 1839 to 1860. A famous photo taken at the Devonshire House ball in Piccadilly to celebrate Victoria's diamond jubilee on 2 July 1897 (Walton) evidences the figure of Britannia and its relation to nation and power.

Fine condition.