Florin (British coin) angles. The new florin closely resembles the Gothic crown of 1847; the obverse for both was designed by the Chief Engraver of the Royal Mint, William Wyon, while the reverse of both was designed by William Dyce. Unlike the crown's Gothic script, the 1849 florin has Roman lettering. The 1849 florin, issued in silver, weighed 11.3 grams and had a diameter of 28 millimetres. The new coin made clear its value with the inscription on the reverse. To aid in the decimal experiment, the half crown (two shillings and sixpence, or one-eighth of a pound), near to the florin in
Twopence (British pre-decimal coin) silver coin being minted. To thwart the further issuance of private token coinage, in 1817 an Act of Parliament was passed which forbade the manufacture of private token coinage under very severe penalties. A short-lived twopence denomination in silver was also produced, with circulation issues in 1817, 1818 and 1820, after which silver twopence were only issued as Maundy money. In 1857, a survey by the Royal Mint found that around one-third of all copper coinage was worn or mutilated, often by advertisements. A couple of years later Thomas Graham, the Master of the Mint, convinced William Ewart Gladstone, then