Great Britain 1859 florin
This specimen was lot 34064 in Heritage sale 3076 (Long Beach, CA, September 2019), where it sold for $780. The catalog description[1] noted, "Great Britain: Victoria 'Gothic' Florin 1859 MS64 PCGS. The highest grade for the date recorded by PCGS, and unmistakably alluring with a strong flash to the reverse." 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. This example was struck without die number.
Recorded mintage: 2,568,000.
Specification: 11.31 g, 0.925 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM 746.1, S-3891.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- 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.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano and Warren Tucker, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3076, featuring the Allen Moretti Swiss Collection and the James Mossman Collection of Canadian Coinage, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2019.
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