Great Britain 1880 florin
This specimen was lot 26445 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $144. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. "Gothic" Florin, 1880. London Mint. Victoria. PCGS Genuine--Cleaned, AU Details. Featuring the classic and ever-popular "gothic" bust type, this lightly cleaned example is not at all held back by its details designation, and should undoubtedly generate enhanced excitement. From the Mark and Lottie Salton Collection." This florin was Britain's first attempt to decimalize the pound (1 florin = 2 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: 2,161,000.
Specification: 11.31 g, 0.925 fine silver, 28.3 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: S-3900; KM-746.4.
- 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]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The January 2023 NYINC Auction: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Taraszka Collection and the Mark and Dottie Salton Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
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