An Overview of Australian KGV Florins

— Appearance & Value — Low Mintage(s) — Key Date(s) — Typeset Options —

– click on a photo to view the full image –

London – no m/m 1911-1915

Birmingham – ‘H’ below date 1914,1915

Melbourne – ‘M’ below date 1916-1919, no m/m 1921-1936

KM# 27 (1911-36)

Appearance & Value

There is only a single basic coin type in the Australian KGV florin series, featuring the early coat of arms kangaroo & emu design on one side.

For a discussion of pricing, see

• Which are the most valuable Australian florins?
• Blog posts – coin pricing info

Origin & Mintmarks

From 1911-15, coins were produced by the London mint and sent over. These coins were not mintmarked.

The “H” mintmark is found on 2 examples – 1914 and 1915, and it indicates Birmingham as the single source for the year.

All the others were made in Australia, although none were made for issue in 1920, 1929 or 1930.

Melbourne (& Sydney)

It also appears that from 1916-19, only coins from the Melbourne mint were made – identifiable by an “M” under the date.

For the remainder of the series, even though Melbourne contributed the vast majority of the coins, there was no mintmark.

This means that for 1924-26 a coin could have come from either Melbourne or Sydney but only in that short period.

Sterling silver

All the coins issued were 92.5% silver, so it’s 3 coins per troy ounce ASW.

There was a commemorative in 1927 and another dated 1934/35 – neither have the kangaroo/emu.

All especially nice coins to look at in good grade and there are a few that stand out for one reason or another…

Low Mintage Years

Production of these florins varied greatly, still, only as many as 5M for 1936, – which was the highest; and the 3 lowest were:

• 1932 = (.18M)

• 1933 = (.488M)

• 1914H & 1915 = (.5M each)

(source: Renniks 30th Ed)

It is worth noting that numbers exceeded 3M in only another couple of years (1917, 1931).

1st of the series

The 1911 kicked off with a mintage just under 1M. This number was doubled in 1914 – generally the first 6 coins are sought after, those produced in England up to and including 1915.

They are all good coins, but it is the lowest mintage 1932 which is the key date, and can be a relatively expensive item – even in low grade!

Typeset Options

Typeset collectors would either need a single example which was not a commemorative, or, it could be an opportunity to consider the originating mints… just one possible avenue…

Happy Collecting!