Mintage:2,300,000 Reverse Designer:W. H. J. BlakemoreObverse Designer:Sir E. B. MacKennelSize:28mmWeight:11.31gEdge:ReededComposition:92.5% Silver 7.5% Copper
Values
Sales History
Current listings
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After the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the Royal Mint in London
became heavily involved in manufacturing military materials. This wartime necessity reduced the Mint's ability to fulfil
growing Australian demand for currency. To resolve this problem the private mint of Heaton & Sons in Birmingham was contracted
to produce 500,000 George V Florins, in addition to the 2,300,000 pieces produced by the Royal
Mint in London. The Florins produced at the Heaton & Sons mint were struck with a small 'H' mint-mark which can
be found below the date on the reverse (see the image below) while those struck in London remained plain.
Heaton & Sons 'H' mint-mark on a 1914-H Florin.
No mint-mark on a 1914 Florin struck at the Royal Mint in London.
One of the major reasons for this high
mintage
was a deal made between the Australian and British Imperial Government. It was decided that with the introduction of
Australian pounds in 1910 the Australian Government would return �100,000 of Imperial silver coinage to Great Britain annually.
However, an unprecedented need for high denomination silver coinage in Australia meant that by 1914 less than �100,000
of the imperial coinage in total had been returned. The large demand for new Australian silver coins coupled with a need
to return and discontinue British silver coins helps to explain the large
mintage
in 1914 and the need to commission the mint of Heaton & Sons.
Although the Royal Mint struggled to meet Australia's demand for
Florins they still produced the largest
mintage
since the introduction of the series. As a result of this high mintage, the plain 1914 Florin is one of the most affordable
types in the early Florin series. The number of surviving higher grade examples is also relatively substantial with PCGS
having seen more than twenty pieces in mint-state. A collector seeking an attractive early George V Florin for less than
a fortune would do well to investigate this 1914 type.
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