The
Florentine florin was a gold
coin
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...
struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54
grains
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...
(3.499 grams, 0.113
troy ounce) of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purchasing power difficult to estimate (and variable) but ranging according to social grouping and perspective from approximately 140 to 1,000 modern
US dollars. The name of the coin comes from the ''Giglio bottonato'' (
it), the floral emblem of the city, which is represented at the head of the coin.
History
The ''fiorino d'oro'' (gold florin) was used in the
Republic of Florence and was the first
European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities since the 7th century to play a significant commercial role. The florin was recognized across large parts of Europe. The territorial usage of the ''
lira
Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Isr ...
'' and the florin often overlapped, where the lira was used for smaller transactions (wages, food purchases), the florin was for larger transactions such as those used in dowries, international trade or for tax-related matters.
The first minting of the florin occurred in 1252, at the time the value of the florin was equal to the ''lira'', but by 1500 the florin had appreciated, seven ''lire'' amounted to one florin.
In the 14th century, about a 150 European states and local coin-issuing authorities made their own copies of the florin. The most important of these was the
Hungarian forint, because the
Kingdom of Hungary was a major source of European gold (until mining in the
New World began to contribute to the supply in the 16th and 17th centuries, most of the gold used in Europe came from
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
).
The design of the original Florentine florins was the distinctive
fleur-de-lis badge of the city on one side and on the other a standing and facing figure of
St. John the Baptist wearing a
cilice
A cilice , also known as a sackcloth, was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin. It is used by members of various Christian traditions (including the Catholic
Th ...
. On other countries' florins, the inscriptions were changed (from "Florentia" around the fleur, and the name of the saint on the other), and local
heraldic devices were substituted for the fleur-de-lis. Later, other figures were often substituted for St. John. On the Hungarian forints, St. John was re-labelled
St. Ladislaus, an early Christian king and patron saint of Hungary, and a battle axe substituted for the original's sceptre. Gradually the image became more regal looking.
Other coins
The term ''florin'' was borrowed elsewhere in Europe. A variant of the florin was the Rheingulden, minted by several German states encompassing the commercial centers of the Rhein (
Rhine) River valley, under a series of monetary conventions starting in 1354, initially at a standard practically identical to the Florentine florin (98% gold, 3.54 grams). By 1419, the weight had been slightly reduced (to 3.51 grams) and the alloy was substantially reduced (to 79% gold). By 1626, the alloy had been slightly reduced again (to 77% gold), while the weight was more substantially reduced (to 3.240 grams). In 1409, the
Rheingulden standard (at the time 91.7% gold) was adopted for the Holy Roman Empire's
Reichsgulden.
The
Dutch guilder is symbolized as Fl. or
ƒ, which means florijn (florin).
The English
coin first issued in 1344 by
Edward III of England is also known as a florin. Originally valued at six shillings, it was composed of 108
grains (6.99828
gram
The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram.
Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to th ...
s) of gold with a purity of 23 carats and grains (or carats)
– and more recently relating to a
British pre-decimal silver coin (later
nickel silver
Nickel silver, Maillechort, German silver, Argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, alpacca, is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver does not contain the eleme ...
) also known as a
two shilling (or two bob) "bit" (abbreviation 2/-) worth 24 pence or one-tenth of a pound.
In
Ireland, a silver
florin coin (worth one-tenth of an
Irish pound
The pound ( Irish: ) was the currency of the Republic of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or IR£ for distinction). The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin c ...
, with
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
inscription ''flóirín'') was minted between 1928 and 1943; it became cupronickel in 1943 and was withdrawn from use on 1/6/1994.
See also
*
*
Florin (Australian coin)
The Australian florin was a coin used in the Commonwealth of Australia before decimalisation in 1966. The florin was worth two shillings (24 pence, or one-tenth of a pound).
The denomination was first minted in 1910 to the same size and weight as ...
*
History of coins in Italy
Italy has a long history of different coinage types, which spans thousands of years. Italy has been influential at a coinage point of view: the florin, one of the most used coinage types in European history, was struck in Florence in the 13th cent ...
*
Soldo
The soldo was an Italian medieval silver coin, issued for the first time in the late 12th century at Milan by Emperor Henry VI. The name derives from the late Roman coin ''solidus''.
It quickly became widespread in Italy, where it was coined ...
*
Venetian ducat
*
Venetian grosso
*
Venetian lira
References
Bibliography
* http://www.gmmnut.com/gmm/sca/florin.html - See Discussion
*
*
*
* The Economy of Renaissance Florence. Richard A. Goldthwaite
External links
Money museum:Fiorino d'Oro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Florin (Italian Coin)
Guilder
Coins of Italy
Republic of Florence
Medieval currencies
Obsolete Italian currencies
Gold coins