Florin 1909, Coin from United Kingdom - detailed information

The pre-decimal florin (2s) was a unit of currency equalling two shillings, or one tenth of a pound sterling, or twenty-four pence. There were four types of florin issued before this one: the so-called Godless Florin (1848 and 1849), followed by the Gothic Florin (1851 - 1887), the Jubilee Florin (1887 - 1892), and then a florin featuring three shields (1893 - 1901).

This Britannia florin was introduced in 1902 at the beginning of the reign of King Edward VII in 1902, and has a Standing Britannia reverse design inspired by the obverse of the British Trade Dollar issued for the Asian colonies (best known as a Hong Kong Dollar). Both side of the florin were designed by George William de Saulles, who also designed the Trade Dollar in 1895. The coin type was short lived and was replaced by the first type of King George V florins in 1911.

The composition is Sterling Silver (0.925 silver) and the coins have 0.3364 oz ASW (ounce of Absolute Silver Weight). When the currency became decimal in 1971, by which point the denomination was already debased to copper-nickel, florins were re-denominated as ten new pence; they remained legal tender until 1993, when a smaller type of ten pence replaced them.