When designs were being considered for the new Australian silver coinage during the first decade of the twentieth century, the pattern Australian florin illustrated here was put forward. Its reverse, designed by William Henry James Blakemore, a resident engraver at the Royal Mint, was very different from the heraldic devices that had hitherto held sway and it was given serious enough consideration for trial pieces to be prepared.
The forces of tradition prevailed in the end and another design by the same artist, very much heraldic in theme, was selected instead of the map of Australia. Whatever its drawbacks, it stands out as an unusual item and it even attracted the attentions of the well-known counterfeiter David Gee, who concentrated on Australian rarities and who had access to the Royal Australian Mint collection in Canberra. Perhaps its very distinctiveness caught his eye. He made copies, including one paired with an obverse using an original die for a double sovereign.
The Royal Mint Museum lists a uniface pattern, but also supplied a photo of an obverse with the King's effigy by de Saulles; note though that it carries the "colonial" legend (in English) and not the one finally adopted on Australian coinage, which was the same as on the Imperial coinage (in Latin). |
