The double florin, or four-
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
piece, was a
British coin produced by the
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins.
Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...
between 1887 and 1890. One of the shortest-lived of all British coin denominations, it was struck in only four years. Its
obverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...
, designed by
Joseph Boehm
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, (6 July 1834 – 12 December 1890) was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the " Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Par ...
and engraved by
Leonard Charles Wyon
Leonard Charles Wyon (23 November 1826 – 20 August 1891) was a British engraver of the Victorian era most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 and the bronze coinage of ...
, depicts
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
, whilst the
reverse
Reverse or reversing may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Reverse'' (Eldritch album), 2001
* ''Reverse'' (2009 film), a Polish comedy-drama film
* ''Reverse'' (2019 film), an Iranian crime-drama film
* ''Reverse'' (Morandi album), 2005
* ''Reverse'' ...
, featuring
national symbols of the United Kingdom
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
, was designed by Wyon based on the coinage of
Charles II.
The double florin was introduced as part of a coinage redesign that took place in 1887, the year of
Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey, and a banquet to which ...
. One purpose of the redesign was to replace portraits of the queen which had changed little since her youth, and which no longer resembled the monarch, who was nearing her seventieth birthday. Mint officials and politicians also sought to reduce dependence on the
half sovereign
The half sovereign is a British gold coin with a nominal value of half of one pound sterling
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and ...
, a gold coin worth ten shillings which was expensive to strike, by issuing the double florin (four shillings) and reintroducing the
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
(five shillings) coin. They may also have intended a further
decimalisation
Decimalisation or decimalization (see spelling differences) is the conversion of a system of currency or of weights and measures to units related by powers of 10.
Most countries have decimalised their currencies, converting them from non-decimal ...
of the coinage after the introduction of the
florin
The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...
(two shillings, or one-tenth of a pound) in 1849.
When issued in June 1887, the
Jubilee coinage
Jubilee coinage or Jubilee head coinage are British coins with an obverse featuring a depiction of Queen Victoria by Joseph Edgar Boehm. The design was placed on the silver and gold circulating coinage beginning in 1887, and on the Maundy co ...
provoked an outcry. The small royal
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
Boehm had placed on Victoria's head caused widespread mockery. The double florin in particular was criticised as it was close in size to the five-shilling crown, leading to confusion, especially since neither coin was inscribed with its denomination. The confusion was said to be particularly acute in public houses, where barmaids accepted it believing it to be a crown, giving it the nickname of "Barmaid's Ruin" or "Barmaid's Grief". The coin was abolished after 1890, though it remained in circulation. Upon
full decimalisation in 1971, the double florin was not demonetised, and remains
legal tender
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in pa ...
for 20
p (
£0.20).
Background
During the 19th century, Britain continued its
longtime monetary system, under which 12 pence constituted a shilling, and 20 shillings a pound. There was interest in decimalisation of this system, and in 1849, the
florin
The Florentine florin was a gold coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains (3.499 grams, 0.113 troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purcha ...
, equal to two shillings or one tenth of a pound, was issued as a first step. It was intended to replace the
half crown, worth two shillings and sixpence, and production of the half crown was discontinued in 1850, but resumed in 1874, and both coins were struck until
full decimalisation in the 1970s. The
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
, or five-shilling piece, was not struck for circulation between 1847 and 1887; the 1847 coinage was struck in limited numbers and possibly intended as keepsakes. When a double florin was proposed by a director of the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
in 1874, the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, Charles Fremantle, opposed it.
The next largest coin in denomination was the gold
half sovereign
The half sovereign is a British gold coin with a nominal value of half of one pound sterling
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and ...
, equal to ten shillings. This was a small coin, equal in size to the silver
sixpence (plating sixpences and
passing them for half sovereigns was a continuing abuse). The government discouraged the use of half sovereigns—unlike
silver coin
Silver coins are considered the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 ...
s, the sovereign and half sovereign were to contain their full value in precious metal, to an exacting standard set by the
Coinage Act 1870
The Coinage Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict c 10) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It stated the metric weights of British coins. For example, it defined the weight of the sovereign as 7.98805 grams (about 123.27747 grains). The Act was ...
. These limits were so tight that 45 percent of newly-struck half sovereigns were rejected by the automatic scales at the
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins.
Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...
, requiring their recoinage. The government profited through
seignorage
Seigniorage , also spelled seignorage or seigneurage (from the Old French ''seigneuriage'', "right of the lord (''seigneur'') to mint money"), is the difference between the value of money and the cost to produce and distribute it. The term can be ...
on silver coins at about 20 percent, depending on the price of silver. Thus, the half sovereign was expensive in terms of both the value of its metal and its production costs, especially in comparison with the silver coinage. Such problems were less acute with the sovereign, for which demand continued high as a world-wide
trade coin Trade coins are coins minted by a government, but not necessarily legal tender within the territory of the issuing country. These quasi bullion coins (in rarer cases small change) were thus actually export goods - that is, bullion in the form of c ...
, whereas the half sovereign tended to remain in Britain. In 1884, the
Gladstone government proposed to reduce the amount of gold in the half sovereign by a tenth, rendering it a
token coin
In numismatics, token coins or trade tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of token coins is part of exonumia and token coins are token money. Their denomination is shown or implied by size, color or shape. They are o ...
, but the change was abandoned. British gold coins were legal tender for payments in any amount, but silver coins were only legal tender to forty shillings.
Inception
In September 1886, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
,
Lord Randolph Churchill
Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British statesman. Churchill was a Tory radical and coined the term 'Tory democracy'. He inspired a generation of party managers, created the National Union of ...
, replied sympathetically to a proposal in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
to abolish the half sovereign and replace it with silver coins. Although Churchill was noncommittal, his son and biographer
Winston wrote that he "harboured a deadly design against the half-sovereign—'that profligate little coin'—which he believed was an expensive and unnecessary feature of British currency". Lord Randolph came to favour withdrawal of the half sovereign, with its place taken by large silver coins, and the redemption of outstanding half sovereigns to be paid for in part with silver coins and in part with
£1 bank notes, with some portion to be replaced with sovereigns. Since this would mean the largest denomination coin with which change could be given from a pound would be the half crown,
James Currie, governor of the Bank of England, suggested a double florin to aid in change giving. Before these matters could be decided, Lord Randolph resigned as chancellor in late December 1886. His successor,
George Goschen, was slow to decide whether to discontinue the half sovereign, and eventually decided against it. Nevertheless, Goschen was no supporter of the half sovereign, and none were struck at the Royal Mint's facility at
Tower Hill
Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher grou ...
between June 1887 and February 1890.
Among those pressing for the issuance of large silver coins were the supporters of
bimetallism
Bimetallism, also known as the bimetallic standard, is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent to certain quantities of two metals, typically gold and silver, creating a fixed rate of exchange betwee ...
, making both gold and silver legal tender. A four-shilling piece had been common in proposals for a fully bimetallic coinage since at least 1868. Increasing the amount of silver used for coinage would be a step towards bimetallism. The issue of bimetallism was especially acute in Britain in the mid-1880s because of the problems in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, where the government received revenue in silver but then had to make payments to Britain in gold, at a time when the value of silver relative to gold was decreasing. Increased seignorage from large silver coins might allow Britain to grant India financial relief.
No document has been found that clearly explains the decision to issue a double florin. The
numismatist
A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
G. P. Dyer, in his article on the influences that brought about the double florin, wrote:
Sir
John Clapham, in his 1944 history of the Bank of England, described the double florin as "a half-hearted concession to admirers of the decimal system". Issuance of the double florin was also justified in the hope that, as a large silver "dollar"-sized coin, it would compete with the
Mexican "dollar" as a trade coin in the Far East, and Fremantle was encouraged when £1,000 of the new coins were distributed to a bank connected with the Eastern trade in 1887. Nevertheless, the intrinsic value of the double florin was about sixpence less than the Mexican coin, and less than five percent of double florins were sent abroad.
Design
Obverse
![Golden Jubilee Medal of Queen Victoria MET DP100543](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Golden_Jubilee_Medal_of_Queen_Victoria_MET_DP100543.jpg)
By 1887, Queen Victoria had been on the throne for half a century, and was nearly 70 years old. Nevertheless, the coins of the United Kingdom still depicted her as a young woman, as they had since the first issuance of coins depicting her in 1838. Her
Golden Jubilee
A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু ...
in 1887 gave an opportunity to place new designs on the coinage, and all the circulation coins but the bronze pieces saw a new portrait of her that year.
In 1879,
Joseph Boehm
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1st Baronet, (6 July 1834 – 12 December 1890) was an Austrian-born British medallist and sculptor, best known for the " Jubilee head" of Queen Victoria on coinage, and the statue of the Duke of Wellington at Hyde Par ...
had been chosen, apparently by Queen Victoria herself, to execute a portrait of the queen that could be used as a model for coinage designs. Boehm prepared a likeness that was used for a medal marking the queen's Jubilee, and which was adapted for the coinage in lower
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
by
Leonard Charles Wyon
Leonard Charles Wyon (23 November 1826 – 20 August 1891) was a British engraver of the Victorian era most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 and the bronze coinage of ...
, who made small changes.
![Queen Victoria by Bassano](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Queen_Victoria_by_Bassano.jpg)
The obverse of the
Jubilee coinage
Jubilee coinage or Jubilee head coinage are British coins with an obverse featuring a depiction of Queen Victoria by Joseph Edgar Boehm. The design was placed on the silver and gold circulating coinage beginning in 1887, and on the Maundy co ...
, first issued in 1887, including the double florin, features that likeness. It quickly became controversial, although it was a portrait from life, as the queen had sat for Boehm. The obverse of the 1887 coins, according to the numismatic author, Howard Linecar, "produced a storm of disapproval, directed particularly against the effigy of the queen. How this obverse design was passed by the queen herself is a small mystery." In their article on Boehm's role in the Jubilee coinage, Dyer and Mark Stocker (a biographer of Boehm) agree: "even though the queen's artistic judgment was admittedly a hit and miss affair, it still seems curious that neither she nor those most closely involved had any inkling of the likely public response". The historian Sir
Charles Oman
Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman, (12 January 1860 – 23 June 1946) was a British Military history, military historian. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. ...
deemed the Jubilee coinage, "the greatest disappointment of the century."
Victoria wears a small crown, which she had bought so as not to have to wear a heavier one. It was the crown that she preferred to wear at that time, and appears on other contemporary effigies of her. According to Linecar, "Place your finger over the crown, and there is nothing odd about the portrait: it is just that of a widowed lady in mourning. The disapprobation therefore turns upon the ridiculously small crown ... When she (and the public) saw herself as others saw her, did she, as many of us do, suddenly become aware that she was wearing a 'hat' that did not suit her?"
Simon Heffer
Simon James Heffer (born 18 July 1960) is an English historian, journalist, author and political commentator. He has published several biographies and a series of books on the social history of Great Britain from the mid-nineteenth century unti ...
, in his history of Britain in the decades before the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, stated that the engraving on the Jubilee coinage was "honest and lifelike", but that Victoria "looked sour, chinless and porcine, her over-sized head made all the more glaring by a crown several sizes too small being perched upon it, above a bizarre flowing head-dress". The art critic
George Moore stated of the Jubilee coinage, "the melting-pot will put that right one of these days". The numismatist Lawrence W. Cobb, writing in 1985, took a more nuanced view of the portrait, "Wyon seems to have tried to soften the Queen's look of age, tension and strain
n the medal but in so doing he lost some of the strength and vigor of the Queen's indomitable spirit. Nonetheless, even with its faults, Wyon's portrait preserves the majesty of the Queen's presence."
In addition to bearing the crown, Victoria's head has a widow's veil. Following the death of
Albert, Prince Consort
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel; 26 August 1819 – 14 December 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861.
Albert was born in the Saxon duch ...
in 1861, she had remained in mourning, and the veil would have been black in colour. The veil descends from a
widow's cap worn under the crown. The queen has a pearl necklace and there is an earring in her visible ear. She wears the Ribbon and Star of the
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...
and the badge of the
Order of the Crown of India
The Imperial Order of the Crown of India is an order in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system. The Order was established by Queen Victoria when she became Emperor of India, Empress of India in 1878. The ...
; the artist's initials may be found on the truncation of her bust.
Reverse and inscriptions
![Great Britain, crown, 1891, Victoria](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Great_Britain%2C_crown%2C_1891%2C_Victoria.jpg)
The reverse has four cruciform shields, with sceptres in the angles between them. This was based on the designs of
John Roettier
John Roettiers (4 July 1631 – 1703) was a celebrated English engraver and medallist.
Roettiers was the oldest son of Philip Roettiers, a goldsmith of Antwerp. He took up the profession of stonecutter and medallist, with his earliest known prod ...
for the gold coinage of
Charles II. The reverse designs for the florin and double florin (which are nearly identical) were described in the proclamation making them current as "contained in Four Shields arranged crosswise, each shield crowned, and between the Shields Four Sceptres surmounted by Orbs, a Thistle and a Harp, and a Star of the Garter in the Centre". These constituted the
arms of the United Kingdom
The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Vari ...
.
The shields at top and bottom are the
arms of England
The royal arms of England are the arms first adopted in a fixed form at the start of the age of heraldry (circa 1200) as personal arms by the Plantagenet kings who ruled England from 1154. In the popular mind they have come to symbolise the ...
, the one on the right
that of Scotland, and on the left
that of Ireland.
Gertrude Rawlings wrote in 1898 that the design for the double florin is "radiating kitchen pokers and tea trays".
Around the rim of the double florin are abbreviated versions of some of the queen's titles, with the date on the reverse. The obverse legend reads (Victoria by the Grace of God) and continuing on the reverse, (Queen of the Britains, Defender of the Faith).
The "Britains" in the legend is meant to include the
colonies
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
and other territories. Not present is ,
Empress of India
Emperor or Empress of India was a title used by British monarchs from 1 May 1876 (with the Royal Titles Act 1876) to 22 June 1948, that was used to signify their rule over British India, as its imperial head of state. Royal Proclamation of 22 ...
.
The act which permitted Victoria to adopt that title had forbidden her to use it within the United Kingdom, and the double florin reflects that decision. The queen wanted that title to appear on British coinage, and would get her way on the next issue, appearing beginning in 1893, after the abolition of the double florin.
Like the other designs initially issued in June 1887, that for the double florin contains no indication of the coin's value. By 1889, even the individual depicted on the Jubilee coinage had turned against it, writing in a note, "the Queen dislikes the new coinage very much, and wishes the old one could still be used and the new one gradually disused, and then a new one struck." In 1891, the Mint set up a committee to judge entries in a fresh competition. The winner, a design by
Thomas Brock
Sir Thomas Brock (1 March 184722 August 1922) was an English sculptor and medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
His mos ...
, was placed on the coinage beginning between 1893 and 1895, with new reverses for the surviving silver coins between the sixpence and half crown; and on them is a statement of the value.
Production
Release and controversy
![Punch_coins_1887](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Punch_coins_1887.jpg)
In December 1886, Boehm succeeded in making a model of the obverse design with which he was satisfied. It was not until February 1887 that
coinage dies were made, engraved by Wyon, from which
pattern coin
A pattern coin is a coin which has not been approved for release, but produced to evaluate a proposed coin design. They are often off-metal strike (using metals of lower value to test out the dies), to proof standard or piedforts. Many coin col ...
s could be struck. On 24 March 1887, Fremantle submitted the obverses of at least some of the denominations for approval by Goschen and then Victoria. Although it is not clear if an obverse for the double florin was submitted at this time, there is a uniface piece showing only the reverse of the double florin in the Royal Mint's collection that may date from this time. Victoria's approval of Boehm's design was accompanied by a wish that the new coins show some wording to indicate they were struck in the Jubilee year. Fremantle was unwilling to countenance something that would delay the new coinage, but Victoria was so reluctant to yield that Goschen asked Fremantle to reconsider, but he declined to do so.
On 12 May 1887, Fremantle officially announced that there would be changes to the gold and silver coinage, including the introduction of a double florin, and an
Order in Council
An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...
to that effect was printed in ''
The London Gazette
''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...
'' on 17 May. Later that month, the ''Annual Report of the Deputy Master of the Mint'' contained engravings of the new issue; Fremantle wrote in it of the double florin, "it remains to be seen whether this handsome coin will be generally popular". Fremantle authored an article for the June number of ''
Murray's Magazine
''Murray's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine published by the John Murray publishing house. Sixty issues were published, from January 1887 through to December 1891.
It was priced at 1/- (one shilling).
The magazine included limited amounts of f ...
'' entitled "Our New Coins and Their Pedigree" in which he said of the double florin, "I am not without hope that these attempts to substitute silver coins of artistic design for the somewhat commonplace currency to which we have been accustomed during the last fifty years may be favourably viewed by the public; and it is possible that the introduction of a larger piece than those which we have hitherto been in the habit of using, in the shape of the double florin, may in many ways be found useful."
''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', discussing the new double florin, could see no reason why the coin was necessary, describing it as "very heavy, very large, and very inconvenient". ''
The Standard'' wrote on 19 May that "there is no particular need for a four-shilling piece ... And, now that the double florin will form the middle denomination between the two shillings and the half-sovereign, probably a fresh attempt will be made to withdraw it
he half-crownfrom circulation". The ''
Belfast News Letter
The ''News Letter'' is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published from Monday to Saturday. It is the world's oldest English-language general daily newspaper still in publication, having first been printed in 1737.
The newspap ...
'', writing on 23 May, stated, "It is difficult to imagine what purpose the double florin will be calculated to serve; for the inconvenience of large and heavy silver coins is too great to be overlooked". The ''
Pall Mall Gazette
''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed int ...
'' wrote the same day that the double florin "in all probability will have very little currency in the United Kingdom. The meaning of the coin is that it should not be a double florin, but a dollar, and as such pass current in the East, in Canada, and other countries such as the United States where dollars are used". The crown was struck for circulation for the first time in at least 40 years, but would fare little better than the double florin, though it would last a bit longer, continuing to be struck in decreasing numbers until 1902.
![Fun coins 1887](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Fun_coins_1887.jpeg)
The Jubilee coins, including the double florin and the crown, were issued in June 1887, with the official release initially set for 21 June, the date on which the queen's Golden Jubilee was to be celebrated.
Since this day had been proclaimed a
bank holiday
A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...
, the release date was changed to 20 June, on which date the coins were to be conveyed from the Royal Mint to the Bank of England and there used to fill orders from London banks. Provincial banks would not have the new coins until at least the 22nd, and the ''Dundee Courier'' reported that "it is expected that the demand for the double florin will soon exhaust the first supply". Once the new coins were released, there was a deeply negative reaction by public and press. According to Dyer and Stocker, "When the storm of condemnation erupted, Fremantle seemed genuinely taken aback at 'the sad turn affairs have taken, most unexpected to me'. It was some storm: questions in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, outspoken criticism from all sections of the press, derisive cartoons and doggerel in ''
Fun
Fun is defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "Light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; boisterous joviality or merrymaking; entertainment".
Etymology and usage
The word ''fun'' is associated with sports, entertaining medi ...
'' and ''
Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
'', and even some unfriendly comment by
John Evans in his presidential address to the
Royal Numismatic Society
The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II.
Membership
Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...
. The coinage was seen as the worst of all worlds; poorly executed, undignified on the obverse, and inefficient in not specifying values on the reverse." According to Heffer, as Victoria's "popularity had recovered considerably among her people by 1887, there was an outcry at this less than idealised representation". The double florin was particularly criticised.
This criticism entered the House of Commons, where Goschen answered questions about the new coinage on 23 and 28 June. The chancellor told
MPs that just as the public did not confuse the florin and half crown, they would not confuse the double florin and crown. The double florin's obverse was nearly identical to that of the crown, but for the fact that the five-shilling piece carried the royal legend on the obverse that the four-shilling bore in part on either side. The two coins had different reverses. The only immediate effect of the outcry was that the sixpence, which lacked a statement of its denomination and was gilded to pass as a half sovereign, was given again its former reverse design, which stated its value.
Continued production and abolition
In December 1887, Fremantle wrote to Robert Hunt, deputy master of the
Sydney branch of the Royal Mint, that the reasons for the double florin's issuance were very complicated, and that he doubted that it would "ever be in great demand". On 30 May 1888, the London correspondent of the ''
Liverpool Mercury
The ''Liverpool Mercury'' was an English newspaper that originated in Liverpool, England. As well as focusing on local news, the paper also reported on both national and international news allowing it to circulate in Lancashire, Wales, Isle of Man ...
'' stated that "nearly £100,000 of the double florin was produced, and nearly the whole sum has disappeared ... the double florin has not become popular. Up to this date it has failed to obtain a general currency."
There was confusion between the double florin and the crown, which gave the four-shilling piece the nickname "Barmaid's Grief", as they were said to mistake double florins for the larger coin. With only 2 mm difference between the diameters of the double florin and the crown, there is anecdotal evidence that some at public houses lost their livelihood to the "Barmaid's Ruin".
''The Banker's Magazine'' wrote in 1890, "yet few persons, even few cashiers, however experienced they may be, will readily distinguish at a glance, a crown from a double florin. They would find it, we believe, a difficult thing to be perfectly sure which coin they were dealing with unless they examined the reverse and saw whether or not the knight and the dragon
he crown's designwas on it".
The year 1889 saw the largest number issued, both of the double florin and of the revived crown, with more than a million struck of each. This was because the government used the two large coins in pay packets for its employees, and because of an agreement it had made with the Bank of England to reimburse the bank for conveying silver coin to its branches and to provincial applicants. In March 1890, Goschen told the Commons that "there can hardly be said to be any similarity between the double florin and the crown" and was met with cries of "Oh!", indicating disbelief. On 5 May, upon being asked if there was any consideration being given to withdrawing either the crown or the double florin, he stated that the crown was growing in popularity and, "as to the four shilling piece, it is premature to come to any decision. Time alone can show what is the real use of a coin." Nevertheless, minting of the double florin ceased forever in August 1890. According to Richard Lobel in the ''Coincraft Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins'', "this denomination, unpopular at the time of issue, lasted until 1890, when it had outlived its usefulness. The use of the Boehm portrait no doubt accelerated its demise." Sir John Craig, in his history of the Royal Mint, stated that "its closeness to the 5''s''. piece, its size and its novelty were fatal handicaps; it was dropped ... after an issue of 2 million specimens, and the flop was so flagrant that the Mint, contrary to all its practice, took the coins back at full face value on request".
Aftermath
Boehm died in December 1890, and according to the art critic
Marion Spielmann
Marion Harry Alexander Spielmann (London, 22 May 1858 – 1948) was a prolific Victorian art critic and scholar who was the editor of '' The Connoisseur'' and ''Magazine of Art''. Among his voluminous output, he wrote a history of ''Punch'', ...
, who knew him well, "his gentle spirit bowed in silence beneath the torrent of scornful condemnation with which his work was received", leading to his illness and death. Wyon died the following August, and the numismatist
Leonard Forrer
Leonard Forrer or Leonhard Forrer (7 November 1869, Winterthur, Switzerland - 17 November 1953, Bromley, United Kingdom) was a Swiss-born numismatist and coin dealer. He was later naturalised as a British subject.Herbert A. Cahn: ''Leonard Forrer ...
wrote in his ''Biographical Dictionary of Medallists'', that Wyon had wanted to design the Jubilee coinage's obverse: "towards the close of his career, he underwent deep disappointment at the Government accepting Sir J.E. Boehm's design for the obverse of the 1887 'Jubilee' coinage, and it is believed that this hastened his end."
In February 1891, Goschen appointed a Committee on the Design of Coins under the leadership of Sir
John Lubbock, the Liberal MP. At its first meeting that month, the committee unanimously decided that the double florin should be discontinued. This was confirmed in a statement to the Commons by Goschen on 25 May. The committee issued its report in March 1892, and an amended version in May; both recommended that the double florin not be retained. Fremantle reiterated this in his annual report as Deputy Master of the Mint for 1892. In January 1893, ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' recalled that the double florin had been universally disliked, "blessing neither him who gave nor him who took". In 1895,
Robert William Hanbury, the
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
The financial secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the First Lord of the Treasury, first lord of th ...
, stated in response to a parliamentary question that he did not know why the double florin had been issued, and that some great distinction should have been made between it and the crown. The double florin's rival, the crown, continued to be issued, and considerable efforts were made to circulate it, in the hope it would displace some half sovereigns from trade, but by 1902 it was clear that the main use of the coin was to pay government wages at the dockyards, after which it immediately went back to the banks, and it was stopped.
By 1914, some 70 percent of the issued double florins had been withdrawn, but some remained in circulation. A 1931 report for the American government mentioned the double florin as the sole obsolete coin issue circulating in Britain, and described it as "rarely seen". After silver ceased to be struck for circulating coins in 1946, specimens of the double florin showed up in the Royal Mint's silver recovery programmes in the early 1960s. Revival of the double florin was considered from time to time and may have reached the point of production of trial pieces in 1950.
The double florin was not demonetised when decimalisation of the pound occurred in 1971,
and it remains legal tender for 20p (£0.20).
Collecting
![1887 UK proof set](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/1887_UK_proof_set.jpg)
The series of the double florin, with only four years to collect, has become popular among collectors seeking a complete set. There are a number of
varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
in the set. The original obverse and reverse were flat; a second obverse and a second reverse, each with a number of slight differences and with a slightly concave
field
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
, were instituted for some 1887 issues and were used in subsequent years. The date was originally rendered as , with a Roman numeral I, but this was modified to an Arabic 1 even before the reverse was changed. On some 1888 and 1889 coins, the second I in is rendered as an upside-down Arabic number 1. The design of the reverse was slightly enlarged for the 1890 issue.
Proof coin
Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies (as in demonstrating that something is true) and for archival purposes. Nowadays proofs are often struck in greater numbers specially for c ...
s exist for 1887, some with the first obverse and first reverse (and a Roman I), and some with the second obverse and second reverse (and an Arabic 1).
The
Numismatic Guaranty Company
Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) is an international third-party coin grading and certification service based in Sarasota, Florida. It has certified more than 50 million coins. NGC certification consists of authentication, grading, attributi ...
, a
coin grading
Coin grading is the process of determining the grade or condition of a coin, one of the key factors in determining its value. A coin's grade is generally determined by six criteria: strike, preservation, luster, color, attractiveness, and occasion ...
service, differentiates little between the circulation-issue varieties of the double florin, in all but the highest grades, rating each (in American dollars, and as of 2022) at $15.50 (the melt value), rising to between $400 and $750 in near-pristine condition. The 1887 proof coins carry a premium over that.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Double Florin, Coin Type from United Kingdom – Online Coin Club
{{British coinage
Double Florin
The double florin, or four-shilling piece, was a British coin produced by the Royal Mint between 1887 and 1890. One of the shortest-lived of all British coin denominations, it was struck in only four years. Its obverse, designed by Joseph Boeh ...
Pre-decimalisation coins of the United Kingdom
Silver coins
Twenty-base-unit coins