Date variations of the 1913 florin

When looking for varieties there is a real danger of seeing things that aren't there. I hope I have not been guilty of that. I do examine my coins under a good microscope (Wild M450 Epimakroskop) and I try to avoid mistakes but I acknowledge that I could be wrong and I invite comment.

I have examined seven usable specimens of the 1913 florin. Of those five seem to be identical (first variety). The sixth is seems to have a sloping second 1 in the date and is the only coin where that second 1 is squarely aligned over a rim denticle. The seventh seems to be similar to the first five except that the second 1 is closer to the centreline of the coin.

As for the 1911 florin I scanned all the coins at high resolution (800 dpi) and aligned the images so that a vertical line runs from the gap between denticles 1 and 166 at the top of the coin to the gap between denticles 83 and 84 at the bottom. The detail is the same as for the 1911 florin shown here (but be warned that the image is large, 908 pixels square).

Next, I drew some horizontal and vertical lines through various portions of the date area and cropped the image to show just the area around the date. These images are presented below.

I lack the means to do proper photomicrographs. These pictures were prepared on a flat-bed scanner and are not entirely distortion-free. I invite others to confirm or refute my findings by examining coins from their own collections.

Three variations of the date on the 1913 florin
| F13L.2A.1 2nd 1 in date is almost perfectly upright (it leans ever so slightly to the right) and is positioned slightly to the left of a rim denticle.
| F13L.2A.2 2nd 1 in date leans ever so slightly to the left and is positioned squarely over a rim denticle. (The line to the right of centre is vertical and the 1 is seen sloping behind it.)
| F13L.2A.3 Similar to variety #1 except that the 2nd 1 is closer to the centreline and is positioned directly over the gap between denticles 82 and 83.

[ Top | Florins | Australian coins | Home Page ]

Visitors:

Most recent revision: 1st January 2000
Copyright ©1999, Triton Technologies International Ltd. All Rights Reserved.