Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Young Head coinage/archive1: Difference between revisions

Young Head coinage (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

As of 9 December 2025, 05:46 (UTC), this page is active and open for discussion. An FAC coordinator will be responsible for closing the nomination.

Nominator(s): Wehwalt (talk) 18:13, 8 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This article is about… the coins that became an iconic image of Queen Victoria in her youth. So much so that it makes two appearances so far (wife and I have watched through Episode 6) in the current Netflix series on Victoria. I’d like to extend my thanks to WMF for purchasing for me a copy of the new, and rather expensive book by Mark Jones on William Wyon. Wehwalt (talk) 18:13, 8 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I’ll review this article’s prose over the next day or two. Do note, however, that I’m not at all experienced at FAC, so a second opinion would help. British coinage is also not my field of expertise, to say the very, very least. DannyRogers800 (talk) 21:50, 8 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• I would add a short description.
• The Young Head coinage is the issues of British coins… Should this read “is the issue of British coins”? I stand to be corrected.
• by which time she was almost 70 years of age “70 years old” is more concise.
• because of that lingered on the coinage even after she no longer resembled it “because of that the coinage lingered on after she no longer resembled it” is more clear.
• It was replaced on the penny and its fractions when the copper coinage was replaced with bronze in the 1860s, but continued on some of the gold and silver coinage. I would add “it” before “but”, since the comma marks a new clause.

• This meant that a new coinage would be prepared, designed at a time when the Royal Mint’s chief engraver, William Wyon, focused on the side of the coin bearing the monarch’s portrait, while the second engraver worked on the other side. I would introduce the terms obverse and reverse here as many readers will not be familiar with them.
• Then, a battle with Benedetto Pistrucci over the position had been compromised by making Wyon chief engraver and Pistrucci chief medalist, at equal salaries. compromised is generally a negative word; I would use a word like lessened or assuaged (assuaged would work with conflict, not battle, in this case) when talking about a battle.
• I think the profession of medalist, or what a medal is, should be explained briefly; again, readers like myself don’t really know the difference between a coin and a medal.
• having been described by an order in council dated 26 July 1837 Best to explain what an order in council is, either by rephrasing or adding a footnote. Most will not be familiar with this term.
• This section relies on the passive tense a bit too much. As Orwell says, whenever you can use the active tense, use the active. For example, instead of Pistrucci was accused by a Wyon supporter (likely Nicholas Carlisle) of ordering Royal Mint employees to work on the coronation medal who should have been helping to prepare the new coinage., you may consider “A Wyon supporter (likely Nicholas Carlisle) accused Pistrucci of ordering Royal Mint employees…”.
• Then, there were production difficulties in the Royal Mint, with dies breaking before they struck an adequate number of coins I would wikilink “dies”.
• The visit does not seem to have solved the problems. Adding however or still would emphasize the contrast between this sentence and the previous one, which states that the French were hospitable.
• Wyon was able to use the same portrait of Victoria for all denominations by use of a reducing machine Use is used twice in the same sentence.
• all look back to Antonio Canova’s Fountain Nymph. I would mention that Fountain Nymph is a scultpure, for clarity.
• “The numismatist Lawrence W. Cobb Wikilink “numismatist”.
• According to the Royal Mint Museum, of Wyon’s portraits of Victoria, that “approved for the coinage in 1838 undoubtedly takes pride of place. Wyon was clearly inspired by his admiration of the neo-classical style of his mentor John Flaxman to create an uncluttered and well-balanced portrait. Add a quotation mark at the end, and wikilink “neo-classical”.
• André Celtel and Svein H. Gullbekk, in their own volume on the sovereign, state that … This sentence uses the same structure and wording as the previous one. I would vary it slightly.
• The numismatic author Peter Seaby deemed it “this famous coin designed by William Wyon”. I don’t think this sentence tells us too much about the coin’s fame. The “cult status” quote is enough. Perhaps moving the sentence to a footnote would suffice.
• Wikilink “Edward VIII”.
• something was needed to replace Pistrucci’s Saint George and the dragon Capitalize the d in “dragon”.
• Una and the Lion appear in Edmund Spenser’s 16th century epic The Faerie Queene. This sentence feels a bit random; why is it important? I’m sure there’s a good reason, but it’s not made clear.
• The royal arms as depicted on the coinage The previous sentence also uses “depicted”; a synonym would be better.
• The penny, halfpenny, farthing and third farthing were given a depiction of Britannia, by Wyon, like to the ones those coins bore under King William “like to the ones” could be rephrased.

I will cover the rest of the article tomorrow, hopefully. Many of my comments are nitpicks, but I think there are some prose issues, namely, overreliance on the passive voice and, at times, statements with jargon lacking explanation or context. Then again, I’m not knowledgeable in British coinage, so my concerns may not apply. On a different note, the article seems comprehensive and well-structured. DannyRogers800 (talk) 00:15, 9 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Acknowledged. Regarding the jargon, this is a non-basic-level numismatic article and as usual, you can either have brisk prose by using the terminology of numismatics, and stopping to define every odd term. I have followed the suggested practice of writing the lead at a slightly more basic level to satisfy the general reader. I will work on the specific comments tomorrow. Thank you for your comments.–Wehwalt (talk) 02:00, 9 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

• File:Metropolitan_canova_naiad_3.JPG needs an explicit tag for the original work. Ditto File:Queen_Victoria’s_Diamond_Jubilee,_1897_MET_DP-180-011.jpg, File:GREAT_BRITAIN,_VICTORIA_1838_-MAUNDY_TWOPENCE_b_-_Flickr_-_woody1778a.jpg, File:GREAT_BRITAIN,_VICTORIA_1838_-MAUNDY_TWOPENCE_a_-_Flickr_-_woody1778a.jpg, File:1868_Quarter_Farthing_obverse.jpg, File:1868_Quarter_Farthing_reverse.jpg