THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
find on so much of the Continental money, and on some
of the Anglo-Saxon and English.
Fleur-de-coin , or/.' d. c.—In the primitive state, as
struck, even if the condition is, from the negligence of
the striker, faulty.
Florin, with the half' and the fourth—A gold coinage
of England under Edward III., 1344, the earliest, with
the exception of the gold piece struck by Henry HI. in
1257, unless we include the Canterbury triens and the
ancient British series. The Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-
Norman kings struck no gold. The florin was ordered
to be of the weight of two Florentines, fifty to be
coined to the pound, Tower standard, the fineness
twenty-three carats. At this time Walter Dunfleurs
was Master of the Mint. According to Camden, the
dies for the new pieces were made by Florentine artists.
The current value of the florin and its fractions was
6s., 3s., and Is. 6d. respectively. It did not remain
current more than a year.
Florin, with tlie double—A silver coin of the United
Kingdom, first instituted in 1848. The double was
not struck till 1887, and has been discontinued. (See
Anglo-Gallic money.)
Forgeries of ancient and modern coins—See an in-
teresting chapter in Akerman's "Introduction,' 1
pp. 177-210.
234
1848,