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Auction 22111  6 Sep 2022
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Lot 4056

Starting price: 550 GBP
Price realized: 550 GBP
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(x) Oliver Cromwell, A Cast or Trial of the Pattern Broad, 1656, in white metal or pewter, after Thomas Simon, laureate head left, rev. crowned shield, edge straight grained, 5.45g, 6h (Lessen A42 this coin; cf. Schneider 367; cf. WR 39; cf. S.3225), slight flan concavity with highly trace evidence of pest and the odd nick to rim, superficial marks in otherwise residually lustrous fields, approaching extremely fine, unusual and very rare.
Provenance
North Yorkshire Moors [Lessen], Part IV, DNW, 21 January 2021, lot 1281
The Gift of P D Mitchell, 1978

A curious piece of numismatica with a faint linear flaw through the serif of the ampersand not present on the gold strikings or the other white metal 'pattern' example offered recently in London (SR 4, 21 September 2021, lot 237 - £3,400 HP). Evidently therefore this piece is not contemporary with those strikings, been cast from a later production of the die, possibly placing it alongside the 1738 restrikings of the Half-Broad by Tanner or the Lead 'squeezes' of the Petition Crown seemingly emanating from the Royal Mint prior to the incorporation of an original specimen in their own Museum collection at the onset of the 19th Century. In short, its existence is enigmatic and its attribution after Thomas Simon entirely conjectural. However in any case it remains a powerful example of one of the most iconic emissions of this masterfully adept engraver.
Estimate: £800 - £1000
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