The Australian Florin is a silver coin which was used in the Commonwealth of Australia prior to decimalisation. It has the same dimensions and composition as the British pre-decimal florin, from which it is derived (for a time, the coins circulated in parallel and were interchangeable in Australia - but not in the United Kingdom). A Florin is equal to two shillings, or 24 pence, or one tenth of a pound.
The reverse of the regular circulating Australian florin coins of the time features the 1908 Coat of Arms.
This is the second Australian circulating commemorative coin (after the Canberra Florin). This coin was issued to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the colony and state of Victoria (founded 1834) and the foundation of the city of Melbourne (founded 1835); hence it is known as the Melbourne Florin. 75,000 were struck and sold at a premium (they were priced at three shillings, for a face value of two shillings), but only 54,000 were sold since many people could not justify such an expense during the Depression; the 21,000 which remained unsold at the end of the event were melted.
The bold reverse design of the coin, by George Kruger Gray, features the centenary logo of an equestrian figure, slightly modified to fit the circular format of a coin (the logo was set in an oval).
The Melbourne Florin is also remarkable for being the only Australian coin having the crowned effigy of King George V by Percy Metcalfe, and also the only Australian pre-decimal coin with an obverse legend in English (all the others were in Latin).
The coins were made of sterling silver (92.5%), weighing 11.31 g (0.3636 troy ounces) with an actual silver weight of 10.46 grams (0.3363 oz ASW).
After decimalisation on 14 February 1966, the florin was re-denominated as 20 cents and continued to circulate for a time, along with the new 20¢ coins which were the same size and weight (but made of copper-nickel). Even though they were practically withdrawn from circulation in 1966, the florin coins were never formally demonetised and are still legal tender. | 
