149 year old British Silver Florin.

Hey Silver Lovers;

Today I have a bit of a gem to share with you, it's a British florin, and this issue is from the mid to late 1800s. The coin itself has seen better days, but it's silver - and worth putting into the old silver box. It might have gotten a little bit more than melt value as a coin, but it's condition is best described as 'shocking'.

The first image I have for you is of its reverse depicts a gothic motif. I love the little crowns which sit above the coat of arms. The wording around the coin reads, 'One Florin. One Tenth of a Pound. On my coin you can see the words are still quite legible, whereas the details of the florin are perhaps viewed on someone else's coin!

With the stylised date numberals, it took me a while to figure it out. But it turns out this little fellow is an 1873:
1873 = MDCCCLXXIII

The coin, as I've just found out, is referred to as a Gothic florin - not because of a design feature, but because of the font - that's why it was so hard to make out those numerals!

The coin reads in Latin: Victoria, D.G. BRITT. Reg F.D
This is shorthand, and in longer form, reads:
VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITTANNIARUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSATRIX

And of course the translation (thanks Google):
Victoria, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Britains, Defender of the Faith.

To show you a bit more of this coin's condition, I took a photo which is a bit of an odd one - sideways. You can get a bit of an insight into the idea that something has given this guy a hard time. Perhaps something ran over it, dunno - but either way, it just adds something to a coin which is 150 years old!

Value: I checked eBay and the cheapest one of the 1873 coins you can pick up is 10 pound - fair enough, as far as these florins go, it has one of the highest mintages at 5.9 million minted. But, at 11 grams, and 92.5% silver - or just over 7 USD. Not a bad little hunk of silver, eh?

Until next time, happy silver hunting!
#silvergoldstacker