1 Florin - Victoria 2nd portrait (1887–1892)

One row for each year the 1 Florin - Victoria 2nd portrait was struck. Prices are medians of verified sold listings matched to that year from the listing: circulated is worn condition up to Extremely Fine, uncirculated is About Uncirculated or better. A count in brackets means fewer than three sales behind the figure; a grey figure marked "type" is the median across every year, shown where that year has no sale of its own yet. Most types have been searched year by year only since October 2026, so later years are still filling in. Use the grade table below for a price by condition across all years.

About the 1887 1 Florin - Victoria

The 1887 1 Florin - Victoria is a circulating 1 florin coin issued from 1887 to 1892, struck in 92.5% silver. It weighs 11.31g and measures 29.5mm across. Reverse design: Crowned cruciform shields of England, Scotland and Ireland, sceptres with national flower emblems in angles, divided date above, legend around.

Mintage figures are recorded for 6 years between 1887 and 1892, 8,552,878 coins in all. 1892 is the scarcest date, with 283,400 struck. It is no longer legal tender (withdrawn 1993), so its value is to collectors only.

Common questions

History and design

The florin received Joseph Edgar Boehm's new portrait in June 1887, when the Jubilee coinage was released for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Wikipedia records that Boehm had first been engaged in 1879, and that the Chancellor approved the coins only in March 1887. The diameter was cut to 29.5 mm, one of two adjustments the Royal Mint Museum notes in 1887 and 1893 to set the florin apart from the half crown.

The portrait was soon mocked for its tiny crown, and Brock's Old Head replaced it in 1893. Collector references give 1,233,378 for 1887 and between 283,401 and 2,973,561 for the later dates. The 1892 figure is the lowest, and Tony Clayton notes that 1891 and 1892 are a little scarcer.

The obverse shows Boehm's portrait of the Queen in her small diamond crown and veil, engraved by Leonard Charles Wyon, with the legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA. Wikipedia notes that BRITT was spelt with two Ts on the Jubilee coins because Gladstone pointed out that a Latin plural should end with a doubled consonant.

The reverse, created and engraved by Wyon, keeps the four crowned shields arranged as a cross but replaces the flowers of the Gothic florin with sceptres, with a Garter Star at the centre. Around it are FID DEF BRITT REG and the date, with no statement of value. The same design was used on the double florin, which Gertrude Rawlings mocked in 1898 as 'radiating kitchen pokers and tea trays'.

Varieties and errors

Proofs dated 1887 were struck for that year's proof sets, and Clayton also lists an 1892 proof. Clayton also illustrates an 1889 florin with a modified obverse. An 1887 die variety with I.E.B. on the truncation is covered on the Boehm pattern florin page.

Collecting notes

When sorting 1887 florins, check the portrait: the Gothic type with its Roman-numeral date was still struck that year. Coin Hunter's figure of 1,776,903 for 1887 combines both types. Wikipedia notes that the first George V florin of 1911 is very similar, so look at the portrait and legend as well as the shields.

Florins were demonetised at the end of June 1993, so a Jubilee florin is now a collector's piece only. Its larger relative is the Jubilee double florin.