Sovereign Rarities Ltd
Auction 4 21 Sep 2021
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Oliver Cromwell (d.1658), gold Broad of Twenty Shillings, 1656, engraved by Thomas Simon, laureate head left, legend and toothed border surrounding, OLIVAR. D. G. R.P. ANG. SCO. ET. HIB. &c PRO. rev. crowned quartered shield of arms of the Protectorate, date either side of top crown, .PAX. QVÆRITVR. BELLO., edge straight grained, 9.08g (Schneider 367; WR 39 R2; Lessen A2; N.2744; S.3225). The usual light hairlines in the field, otherwise almost as-struck, an exceptional representative of this coveted issue with handsome deep-red toning in the legends.
The milled portrait Twenty-Shilling gold pieces, the companion thicker Fifty-Shilling pieces and the silver Halfcrowns dated 1656 – all of which carry Oliver Cromwell's portrait as Lord Protector - are the first British coins in history to show a non-Royal personage on the obverse. Thomas Simon's masterly engraving in miniature of the coins of Cromwell were rightly considered one of the finest examples of the art of die engraving. Indeed, Simon's designs were still being used as models and an inspiration to young die engravers of what could be achieved right up until the Victoria era, when a young Leonard Wyon produced a pattern Crown imitating the Cromwell portrait by Simon.
These Twenty-Shilling gold pieces represent the only gold coin of Cromwell that most collectors will be able to obtain, as the gold pattern Half-Broad and thicker Fifty-Shilling piece are extremely rare and very seldom seen for sale – the last Fifty-Shilling to have sold realised £471,000 in January 2021. Both the Twenty- and Fifty-Shilling pieces were struck on new machinery set up in Drury House on the Strand by the French engraver Pierre Blondeau. Blondeau had invented the edge lettering process with his castaing machine, which he had demonstrated previously in the Commonwealth period in two competitions against the Tower mint workers in 1651 and 1656. Competition was so rife against the Corporation of Moneyers that to avoid sabotage, the machinery could not be set up in the Tower of London hence why it was located in the Strand. In late 1656, £2,000 of gold and silver - mostly if not all from another captured Spanish treasure - was allocated to Blondeau to make his milled coins such as we offer here. The Oliver Cromwell portrait coins revert back to the use of Latin in their legends unlike the regular hammered Commonwealth coinage with their legends in plain English, and hypocritically depict the Lord Protector with a laureate wreath and with a crowned shield on the reverse.
(£30,000-£50,000)
The milled portrait Twenty-Shilling gold pieces, the companion thicker Fifty-Shilling pieces and the silver Halfcrowns dated 1656 – all of which carry Oliver Cromwell's portrait as Lord Protector - are the first British coins in history to show a non-Royal personage on the obverse. Thomas Simon's masterly engraving in miniature of the coins of Cromwell were rightly considered one of the finest examples of the art of die engraving. Indeed, Simon's designs were still being used as models and an inspiration to young die engravers of what could be achieved right up until the Victoria era, when a young Leonard Wyon produced a pattern Crown imitating the Cromwell portrait by Simon.
These Twenty-Shilling gold pieces represent the only gold coin of Cromwell that most collectors will be able to obtain, as the gold pattern Half-Broad and thicker Fifty-Shilling piece are extremely rare and very seldom seen for sale – the last Fifty-Shilling to have sold realised £471,000 in January 2021. Both the Twenty- and Fifty-Shilling pieces were struck on new machinery set up in Drury House on the Strand by the French engraver Pierre Blondeau. Blondeau had invented the edge lettering process with his castaing machine, which he had demonstrated previously in the Commonwealth period in two competitions against the Tower mint workers in 1651 and 1656. Competition was so rife against the Corporation of Moneyers that to avoid sabotage, the machinery could not be set up in the Tower of London hence why it was located in the Strand. In late 1656, £2,000 of gold and silver - mostly if not all from another captured Spanish treasure - was allocated to Blondeau to make his milled coins such as we offer here. The Oliver Cromwell portrait coins revert back to the use of Latin in their legends unlike the regular hammered Commonwealth coinage with their legends in plain English, and hypocritically depict the Lord Protector with a laureate wreath and with a crowned shield on the reverse.
(£30,000-£50,000)