Obverse of 1847 Victorian Gothic Crown

1847 Victorian Gothic Crown
In 1847, a new portrait appeared on British crowns of Victoria. In addition to the existing young head 'bun' crowns issued in 1844, 1845, and 1847, a very richly detailed and engraved design was introduced. This has become known as the 'Gothic' design. A similar design was adopted on the florins issued from 1851 to 1887, also known as Gothic florins, but as the crown is a much larger coin, its design can be better appreciated. The legends (inscriptions) were in lower case gothic script, and the date was in Roman numerals. We often get telephone calls from people who have "found a coin with no date", and it usually turns out to be one of the gothic florins (gothic crowns are much rarer), they expect the date to appear as it does on modern coins, and also forget that most coins did not have their issue dates shown on them before about 1551.
Both Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell were born in 1847.

Reverse of 1847 Victorian Gothic Crown