Quarter florin
coin issued by King Edward III of England
The quarter florin, half leopard or helm was an attempt by English King Edward III to produce a gold coinage suitable for use in Europe as well as in England (see also double leopard and leopard). The Helm, based on contemporary European gold coins had a value of one shilling and sixpence (3⁄40 pound sterling). However, the gold used to strike the coins was overvalued, resulting in the coins being unacceptable to the public, and the coins were withdrawn after only seven months in circulation, and eventually demonetised in August 1344, to be melted down to produce the more popular gold Noble.
The obverse of the coin shows the royal helmet surmounted by a cap of maintenance and a leopard; the legend is EDWR R ANGL Z FRANC D HIB (Edward King of England and France, Lord of Ireland).
The reverse of the coin shows a floriated cross with a quatrefoil in the centre; the legend is EXALTABITUR IN GLORIA ("He shall be exalted in glory", Psalm 112:9).
In 2015, an example was found in Colyton, Devon. It was sold for £50,000.
“Quarter florin” enters the record as coin issued by King Edward III of England. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Quarter, florin and coin can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Quarter florin” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Quarter, florin and coin provides the most credible route into that argument.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7269248. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1344 and 2015.
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This entry incorporates text from “Quarter florin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.