Watch List notes:

GREAT BRITAIN. Pattern Broad of 20 Shillings, 1656. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector (1653-58). NGC AU-58.
Sole Certified Example. cf.S-3225; KM-Pn26; cf.North-2744; cf.Wilson & Rasmussen-39. VERY RARE. Struck in silver. By Thomas Simon. "OLIVAR D G RP ANG SCO ET HIB & PRO" Laureate bust of Oliver Cromwell facing right; Reverse: "PAX QUAERITUR BELLO" (Peace is sought through war) Crowned shield of the Protectorate, lion at center, date above. Just a hair's breadth away from UNCIRCULATED with just the barest hint of rub on Cromwell's cheek and laurel crown. Attractive luster radiates out, with gorgeous apricot hued tone over nice surfaces. The sole certified example. From a current population speculated to be in the single digits.

The Cromwell portrait pattern coins were struck following the tumultuous Civil War period of British history. The English Civil War pitted pro-royalist forces against Oliver Cromwell's pro-parliamentary "roundheads" faction. After years of violence and civil strife, Oliver Cromwell and his army were ultimately successful, and King Charles I was beheaded outside the Palace of Whitehall in an historic act of regicide. Cromwell allowed the Stuart family to sew his head back onto the body to allow for a proper funeral. A republic was formed and new Commonwealth coins were issued using English, not Latin, legends. Subsequently, Oliver Cromwell would take direct control of the government and establish "The Protectorate," with himself serving as Lord Protector. Cromwell's legacy is tarnished by his autocratic rule through his subordinate generals, the military state he enforced, and by his violent suppression of the Irish. These factors led to a backlash against Cromwell and the Protectorate after his death in 1658 and brief succession by his third son Richard (who proved incompetent), in 1660. With the restoration of the Stuart dynasty, the coinage Cromwell produced became an easy target, and much of the extant Commonwealth coinage was sent to be melted and re-coined into Royal issues. The dies for the Cromwell series were created by Thomas Simon and after his death the dies were sold to the Dutch, who prepared imitation coinage with them.

NGC AU-58.

From the Michael Druck Collection.

Estimate: $7000.00- $10000.00