The 1943-S Florin was produced at the San Francisco Mint with
a total
mintage
of 11,000,000. In the same year, the Royal Mint in Melbourne
produced 12,762,000 pieces. These two types can be differentiated by a small 'S' mint-mark over
the reverse date of the San Francisco type. The involvement of the San
Francisco Mint was a reaction against a substantial coin shortage
which began in 1941 and was caused by increased war-time production and the arrival of allied troops in Australia. The shortage
began to cause substantial problems for traders and local mints were pushed to their productive capacities which did not
prove sufficient.
The United States was contracted to produce six million additional Florins in 1942, and eleven million in 1943 and 1944.
Despite being an interesting type the 1943-S is very affordable across all grades with a larger number of pieces graded by
PCGS. The type seems to have survived very well into higher grades with PCGS grading ten MS65 pieces (twice as many as all
previous George VI Florin's) and three MS66 pieces (the first examples of this grade in the George VI Florin series). This
is possibly due to a combination of more advanced minting equipment in the United States and possibly increased hoarding.
Regardless of the reasoning, the availability of affordable high mint-state grades makes this year an excellent choice for
interested collectors.
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