Great Britain 1858 florin
This specimen was lot 24973 in Heritage sale 3026 (Long Beach, October 2013), where it sold for $998.75. The catalog description[1] noted, "Victoria Gothic Florin 1858, MS64 NGC, light obverse abrasions but still very choice, boldly struck even on reverse, and brightly lustrous beneath silvery golden blue iridescent toning." This florin was Britain's first attempt to decimalize the pound (one florin = two shillings = 1/10 pound). It must have been popular, as it was struck in several variations 1848-87. There was even a brief issue of double florins. Full decimalization would have to wait until the 1960's, when the florin became the ten pence coin.
Recorded mintage: 2,239,000 plus a few proofs.
Specification: 11.31 g, 0.925 fine silver, .336 troy oz ASW.
Catalog reference: S-3891, KM 746.1.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano, Warren Tucker and Scott Cordry, Heritage Signature Auction 3026, World & Ancient Coins, featuring the RLM Collection, Part Two, the Nogales Collection and the Goetz Medals Die Archive, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2013.
- Bressett, Kenneth E., A Guide Book of English Coins, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1962.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Rayner, P. Alan, and Maurice Bull, English Silver Coinage from 1649, 6th Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2015.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
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