Gothic florins are rare finds from the perspective of the Australian metal detectorist. Below I have compiled photos, mintage, and specifications of those coins.
The Gothic florin was introduced in Britain in 1849 as they tested moving over to a decimal currency, hence each coin was inscribed with “Two Shillings, One Tenth of a Pound”. They were called Gothic florins due to the Gothic style of lettering on the reverse of the coin, as seen below. They were minted until 1887 when the design was changed to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee (1837 – 1887).
The 1849 florin (below) was known as the ‘godless florin’ due to the absence of the usual ‘D G’ or ‘Dei Gratia’ from the obverse of the coin, this design was changed to the one above when the florin was next minted in 1851.
You can find a complete list of mint numbers here https://onlinecoin.club/Coins/Country/United_Kingdom/Florin_1849/ but in short the years 1851(1540), 1854(550,413), 1862(594,000) and 1863(938,520) are the years to watch out for. With that said though, all Gothic florins have some value to collectors and it’s well worth checking your particular year online.
There are reproductions of this coin floating around on ebay, they are minted in cupro-nickel but are the exact size and design of the originals. An original 1851 – 86 Gothic florin has a diameter of 30 mm, is 92.5% silver and weighs 11.31 grams.
This is a coin high on every detectorists wish list, and it’s an achievable find as they were used throughout Australia during the 19th and early 20th century. I was lucky enough to pick up one in 2018 which you can see in this blog or in my instagram account below.