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Australia George V

1911  Florin reverse 1911  Florin obverse

1911 Florin

Mintage:950,000
Reverse Designer:W. H. J. Blakemore Obverse Designer:Sir E. B. MacKennel Size:28mm Weight:11.31g Edge:Reeded Composition:92.5% Silver
7.5% Copper

Values

Sales History

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The 1911 Florin was both the second year and the second type in the Australian Florin series. The short-lived King Edward VII type had been issued only in 1910 as His Majesty died in May of the same year. The new type (1911 - 1936) featured the portrait of the recently crowned King George V. The new portrait had been designed by the famous Australian sculptor Sir. E. B. Mackennal and depicted the King facing left wearing his Royal robes and St. Edward's Crown.

The issue was produced at the Royal Mint in London as was the case for most early Commonwealth coins. Despite being a new type only 950,000 pieces were produced, this is a quite low figure for the series and is the smallest mintage for twenty years with the exception of 1914 and 1915 (during the First World War) (PCGS, 2017) . One of the reasons for this low mintage was an inability of the Royal Mintin London to meet the demand for higher denomination silver coins in Australia. In 1911 the Melbourne newspaper The Argus reported that this problem had lead to the federal treasury completely exhausting its supply of Florins. (The Argus, 1911) As a temporary solution, the Commonwealth temporary halted efforts to withdraw the British Half Crown from circulation. (Daily Telegraph, 1911)

It would be reasonable to expect higher prices in all grades due to lower mintage figures however for grades up to around AU50 the year seems quite typical for the series and in some cases cheaper. In grades higher than AU50 the year becomes quite rare although a tendency to horde new types seems to have contributed to a larger number of surviving higher mint-state examples than in other immediate years.

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