Except for the short period during the reign of Edward III in
the 14th century, when a gold florin was struck by the Royal
Mint, the florin did not feature as part of the British coinage
until 1849.It was introduced as a concession to enthusiasts for
a decimal system of coinage, being one-tenth of a pound in
value. It owed its name not to any resemblance in shape or value
to the gold florins of Edward III but to the fact that it was
about the same size as Dutch and Austrian florins current at
that time. Its first issue aroused public indignation owing to
the omission of the words DEI GRATIA and FIDEI DEFENSOR from
Queen Victoria’s titles, the coin thereby commonly being known
as the Godless or Graceless florin. This omission was soon
corrected and the florin proved to be a useful addition to the
silver circulation, if sometimes troublesome because of its
close similarity in size to the half-crown. During the run-up to
decimalisation the florin was superseded in 1968 by the new 10p,
its exact decimal equivalen