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Australia George V

1912 Florin

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The 1912 Florin was the second year in the George V Florin series and the third year in the overall Florin series. The Royal Mint in London was tasked with the production of a million coins of this type. This was a quite typical mintage at this stage in the series. Despite the standard mintage the type is quite scarce, particularly in mid to high grades. Only a very small number of mint-state pieces seem to have survived with PCGS grading less than fifteen examples.

Throughout 1912 the legitimacy of the Florin series was brought into question when a large number of counterfeit Florins and Half-Crowns were discovered throughout New South Wales and Queensland. The story became national news with reports of the fakes featuring heavily in newspapers across the country. (The Armidale Express, 1912) The counterfeits were said to be quite convincing although often too light in both colour and weight. The story escalated further in 1913 when it became clear that an organised gang were producing these counterfeits to an increasingly high quality.