The Story of the Florin or Two Shilling Piece

A proof pattern florin was struck in limited numbers in 1848, and this design was accepted. It was produced in quantity for general circulation the next year 1849, but was unpopular at first. It seems to be human nature to resist change, new coins and money in particular are always criticised when they first appear. I suppose most people prefer to be familiar with the money in their pockets. The wording "DEI GRATIA" or its abbreviation "D.G." had been omitted from the design. The translation from Latin means "by the grace of God", and the new coin was criticised heavily for being "Godless and graceless", and is still know to this day as the "Godless" florin.

A new design had to be introduced, and in 1852 the beautiful "gothic" design, similar to that on the crown of 1847, was introduced into circulation, and it continued in production, with a few minor changes, until Victoria's golden jubilee year, 1887. The furore over the "godless" design almost sunk the florin, the new gothic design rescued and revived its chances of success. The florin itself continued until 1967, after which a "10 new pence" coin was issued, identical in size and weight to the old florin or two shilling piece. In this way, the florin did indeed help to pave the way for Britain's decimalisation, although it did take 122 years!

On the first florin design, the "Godless", the value is shown as "One Florin - One Tenth of a Pound" indicating clearly its decimal connection. This description continued on the gothic design until 1887. By 1887 when the Jubilee design was introduced, the mark of value was entirely removed, presumably the florin had become such a familiar coin, that it was not considered necessary to remind people of its value. In 1893, with the introduction of the "Old Head" design, the value mark re-appeared, but this time reading "One Florin - Two Shillings", and this was continued during the reign of Edward VII, even though a brand new reverse design had been introduced, an attractive Standing Britannia design.

In 1911, on the new coins of George V, the value "One Florin" remains, but the wording "Two Shillings" disappears. Even when the reverse designs changed from 1927 to 1936, this value mark remained the same.

With the introduction of new designs for George VI in 1937, the wording "Two Shillings" re-appears, but the words "One Florin" were removed. This continued, not only during the minor design changes of 1949, but right through the introduction of new designs for Elizabeth II, until the very last florins of 1967 and 1970.