Double florin definitely Aussie!

UK Double Florin 1887-1890

What exactly made up the coinage of Australia prior to 1910 is a pretty complicated topic, let’s say a fertile area if you’re really into serious numismatic research! What’s clear is that from their earliest beginnings the individual colonies were short on currency and practically any coin that made its way onto the continent was eagerly accepted and circulated before, in all likelihood, quickly leaving again in exchange for all the other essential stuff they were short of.

I think that’s terrific because it means that all sorts of wonderful coins fall into the category of ‘Early Australian Coins’. Those early settlers were happy to use ‘World Gold, Silver & Copper 1730-1900’ which sounds like a really fun collection!

Research

Back in reality, it’s really helpful when the R&D department produce evidence to show that a coin definitely makes it into ‘Early Australian Coins’ and so I was mightily impressed by a recent article from Dr K.A.Rodgers in ‘The Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine” – “Britain’s (& Australia’s) Enigmatic Double Florin” .

Dr Rodgers deals in detail with the Queen Victoria double florin of 1887 (Spink# 3922, KM# 763), four pages with photos, which for me boiled down to:

“For Australian collectors the coin should not be dismissed as some peculiar British aberration….Tom Hanley and Bill James include the double florin in a type set of “Imperial issues [that] have a definite place in any complete collection of the coinage of Australia”….One of the few things known for sure about the coin is that 128,050 were shipped to the colonies.”

“Britain’s (& Australia’s) Enigmatic Double Florin” by Dr K.A.Rodgers [The Australasian Coin & Banknote Magazine, Vol 23 Number 6 – July 2020]

So there it is in black and white with authority: if, like me, you’re into pre-1910 Australian coins, then you must have the UK QV Double Florin. And its varieties…I was stoked because I already had a couple, thankyou Dr Rodgers – now I just need the rest of them!

Happy collecting!