1953 florin

au-florin-1953

A coin of this date, photographed

Museums Victoria holds 4 of these and photographs each one, which is a documented proof that a coin bearing this date exists. It says nothing about how many were struck, and is not counted as a mintage anywhere here.

What they hold: proof, circulating.

Proof Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Specimen Strike, Australia, 1953, photographed by Museums Victoria
Photographer: Naomi Andrzejeski, Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/55983 (CC BY 4.0)
Proof Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Specimen Strike, Australia, 1953, photographed by Museums Victoria
Photographer: Naomi Andrzejeski, Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/55983 (CC BY 4.0)
Proof Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Specimen Strike, Australia, 1953, photographed by Museums Victoria
Photographer: Naomi Andrzejeski, Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/55984 (CC BY 4.0)
Proof Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Specimen Strike, Australia, 1953, photographed by Museums Victoria
Photographer: Naomi Andrzejeski, Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/55984 (CC BY 4.0)

Proof Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Specimen Strike, Australia, 1953 proof
Proof Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Specimen Strike, Australia, 1953 proof
Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Australia, 1953 circulating
Coin - Florin (2 Shillings), Australia, 1953 circulating

Mintage

No mintage figure is recorded for this issue yet.

What can be said instead

No document names a figure for coins dated 1953. The reports do say what the branch mints delivered in the report years around it, and a coin of this date had to come from one of those deliveries.

Report yearPieces deliveredMint
195311,506,000Melbourne
195420,206,000Melbourne

So at most 31,712,000 pieces can bear the date 1953, if Coins dated 1953 were struck in report year 1953 or 1954.

The reports describe dates lagging by a year, but not always by only one: the 1939 report records that Melbourne went on using 1936 dies throughout 1937. Where a date persisted, the true figure can exceed this ceiling.

Where the usual figure comes from. A mintage of 11,506,000 for 1953 is what you get by taking the report year 1953 delivery and treating it as the coin’s date. That is the commonest figure in circulation for this coin and it rests on an assumption the reports themselves contradict, which is why this catalogue prints it here as an explanation rather than above as a mintage.

Varieties recorded for this coin

A variety is a claim about a coin, and claims differ in how well they are evidenced. The grade beside each says what kind of source stands behind it. This catalogue prints no valuations, so nothing here tells you what a variety is worth.

VarietyHow you tell it apartEvidenceSource
1953 florin large-denticle reverse Large denticles; double line from kangaroo tail juncture to leg trade
a dealer, auction house or grading service
source
1953 florin small-denticle reverse Small denticles; lacks large type's stated double-line marker trade
a dealer, auction house or grading service
source

What this page does not tell you

It does not tell you what the coin is worth. A catalogue can honestly report how many were struck, what metal is in one, and what the documents say. It cannot report a market price without either inventing it or copying someone who might have. So this catalogue reports the first three and stays quiet about the fourth.

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