1970 British Florin Varieties
With the onset of decimalisation, the British florin was struck with the frozen date of 1967 in the last few years of its life, with the final florins being dated 1970 and only being available in proof sets. Although the florin obverse had not changed since 1954, the striking of the proof sets saw two different obverses used.
The two different obverses which Davies denotes as 1 and 2 can be differentiated by examining where the E in DEI points - on obverse 1 it points between denticles and on obverse 2 it points at a denticle. Davies reported obverse 1 as being unconfirmed for 1970-dated florins (p105, Davies, British Silver Coins Since 1816, 1982) but it has since been confirmed. The exact proportions of each are not known but Gouby reports finding approximately five obverse 1 coins in approximately 80 proof sets (Gouby, http://michael-coins.co.uk/GBflorins3.htm).
The reason for a new obverse die being introduced is not known: although it is tempting to say that all the London struck coins used obverse 1 and the Llantrisant coins used obverse 2, the numbers do not agree - approximately 13.6% of coins were struck in London and approximately 6% of coins were struck with obverse 1. More likely is that obverse 1 was not found suitable for striking large numbers of proof coins - proofs had only ever been struck in tiny quantities until 1970 - and a new and more durable design was produced for the bulk of the mintage.
