Two Shillings 1926 Pattern, Coin from United Kingdom - detailed information

This coin owes its origins to the search in the mid 1920s for the new reverse designs for the silver coins of King George V. As well as the traditional heraldic approach, serious consideration was also given to a series of designs showing floral emblems. The strong and beautifully composed rendering of the rose on the florin of this series was modelled by Humphrey Paget, then at the start of his brilliant career, from designs supplied by Francis Derwent Wood, Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.

The Royal Mint Advisory Committee thought it a promising alternative to heraldry and requested that pattern pieces be struck. Support eventually faded but the survival of this delightful pattern rose florin shows what a series of designs based on flowers could have looked like.