More often than not when you come across a group of 1927 florins up for sale, what’s on offer is Australia’s first commemorative florin (KM# 31), as opposed to KM# 27 – the regular circulation strike. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that on release, the two types were treated very differently by the public, resulting in a significant difference in the availability of choice examples these days.
The story often associated with the Canberra ’27s is that, being a special issue from a time when commemorative coins were not produced at the drop of a hat, they were put away and kept to one side more often than the standard strike. I tend to believe it because it’s not uncommon to see quite a few high quality examples up for grabs on a regular basis. The one you want has to be really good!
Anyway, the kangaroo & emu version had a slightly lower mintage (1.42M vs 2M) and arguably, is tougher to find in a higher grade since it was not as prized at the time. It would not have been subjected to all that much hoarding in comparison to the Parliament House coins.
So, if it isn’t already there, it probably ought to be on the radar. At the moment they are likely still within reasonable range in the higher grades and the future looks good.
Speaking of the ‘future’, the photos show what’s known as a ‘slabbed’ coin, this one is from PCGS. It gives you a professional third party grade on the individual coin encased within the tamper proof plastic box. They have their uses, although I don’t personally really like boxes, but that’s just me… – I can’t resist getting my greasy mitts on the coin itself!
Happy Collecting!
pre1946silver.com 