FAQs

What makes a coin valuable?

Plus Icon

I have coins to sell, what’s the next step?

Plus Icon

How will my purchases be shipped?

Plus Icon

What happens if I’m not entirely happy with my purchase?

Plus Icon
JM35614

Victoria 1889 Double Florin

Regular price £100
Regular price Sale price £100

Victoria (1837-1901), silver Double-Florin of Four Shillings, 1889, crowned and veiled Jubilee type bust left, J.E.B. on truncation for engraver Joseph Edgar Boehm, legend surrounding both sides, VICTORIA DEI GRATIA, rev. crowned cruciform shields, sceptres in angles, garter star at centre, date either side of top crown, legend reads BRITT: REG: FID: DEF:, weight 22.61g (Bull 2701; ESC 398; S.3923). Toned with some handling marks, extremely fine.

Mintage 1,185,111.

The Latin legends translates on obverse as "Victoria by the Grace of God," and on the reverse as "Queen of the Briton's, Defender of the Faith."

The Double Florin has an uncanny resemblance to the Crown. Both feature an identical portrait of Queen Victoria and are similar in diameter, in haste or in poor light it would not an unrealistic notion that the two were confused during commerce. The Double Florin was worth a shilling less, of course the reverses are completely different on both denominations, although ostensibly they resembled one another, at least to the touch. Often mistaken for a Crown, anecdotal evidence or oral history has indicated or put forward that several barmaids lost their livelihood as a result, earning the nickname: The Barmaid's Ruin. These coins were only struck for circulation for four years, 1887 until 1890.

FAQs

What makes a coin valuable?

Plus Icon

I have coins to sell, what’s the next step?

Plus Icon

How will my purchases be shipped?

Plus Icon

What happens if I’m not entirely happy with my purchase?

Plus Icon
1 of 4