Oliver Cromwell
"The Commonwealth" (1649 - 60)
You may find this comprehensive information website
useful: http://www.SunandAnchor.com
Oliver Cromwell (Milled) Read about Oliver
Cromwell
WCom-5686: 1658 Oliver Cromwell
Milled Silver Halfcrown. Rare Dutch
copy, late 1600’s to very early 1700’s, cast from the Simon dies. The coin is unusual in two aspects: Firstly, the amount of wear indicates the
coin was passed into circulation. These
Dutch copies were intended to supply collectors with Cromwell coins rather than
be used as currency. Very few coins were
available at this time due to the unpopularity of Cromwell after the
Restoration. It is recorded that of the
small number of coins that were not recalled by the mint, many were
deliberately defaced. Interestingly, I
have never seen such a defaced Cromwell coin, in the same way that I have never
seen a contemporary counterfeit Henry 1st penny (BMC 6-14), although
the mint at the time obviously thought it was a problem because they officially
cut every coin leaving the mint to show the public the coin was silver. Being cast after the Protectorate, the Cromwell
halfcrown would not have circulated in the UK so presumably passed into
European circulation, being just a lump of silver in that market place. Secondly, and more interestingly, this coin
is 11.98 grams. It is also a smaller
flan by a mm or so. As a cast silver
coin, it is difficult to understand how you could create a smaller, lighter
coin from the original. The nature of
casting dictates like for like. Double
shillings or Florins were issued in this later Dutch / Tanner period. Although they are recorded as being double
thickness shillings, it is extremely interesting to note that the weight of
these florins was 12g, exactly the same weight as this coin. Further research required on this intriguing
coin. £995
WJC-6796: 1642 Earl of Essex (Robert
Devereux) Military Reward Silver-Gilt Medal. Designed by Tomas Rawlins. The reverse shows BOTH Houses of Parliament
and the King speaking. Robert Devereux
(1591 – 1646) was the third Earl of Essex and was Oliver Cromwell’s
Parliamentary General. After a long but
undistinguished military career fighting for the Protestant cause in
Commonwealth
(Hammered)
Half Crowns
WCom-5815: 1653 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Halfcrown. Clear date, full
flan and unusual in that the reverse is clearly 1653 (it is in fact one of the
last dies used in 1653) but the obverse is actually a 1652 die. £535
WCom-6496: 1654 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Halfcrown. High grade and
good weight (14.51) so more an irregular flan than excessive clipping, although
there has been a degree of clipping as 15g was the standard. An interesting coin in that the obverse is an
earlier 1653 die and the 5 in the reverse date looks to be over a 4, although
this is definitely not a modified 1649 die.
Of the many variations of 1654 halfcrowns listed on Sun&Anchor, this
appears to be a new, unlisted variety.
£1,295
WCom-6720: 1656 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Halfcrown. A very nice grade
coin struck on a round flan with minimal, if any, clipping. The coin has most likely been sat in water
for all of its life which would account for the surface pitting and weight of
only 14.07g (15g was the standard).
Spink 3215. An interesting coin
in that the obverse is an earlier 1654 die and the reverse die is not 1656,
rather an altered 54 or 55 die.
Technically, this is not a 1656 coin!
Thanks as ever to Sun&Anchor for their excellent research which they
have generously made freely available to all.
£545
Shillings
WCom-6439: 1651 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Shilling. A straight 51
obverse and reverse but no stop after THE making this the rare E.S.C 984. £725
WCom-6440: 1652 over 1 Commonwealth
Hammered Silver Shilling. A 1651
obverse with a 1651 altered date (51 to 52) reverse. Also no stop after GOD making this an
unlisted and unrecorded variety (see www.sunandanchor.com). £785
WCom-6199: 1653 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Shilling. Clear date, decent
grade and unusually, a straight ’53 obverse with a ’53 reverse and no
overdate. £495
WCom-6362: 1653 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Shilling. Clear date, decent
grade. Unusual double striking and the O
in COMMONWEALTH looks altogether too small.
£395
WCom-6403: 1653 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Shilling. Oliver Cromwell’s
Commonwealth, initial mark Sun, 5.42g.
The obverse reads: COMMONWEATH [L missing] and there is no stop after
THE. The ticket states this is the
recorded COMMONWEALH [T missing] variety which is E.S.C.989 (I’m told E.S.C.
130 in the revised edition?), rated at R4 rarity which means 11-20 known
examples. This coin is actually an
E.S.C. unrecorded “missing L” variety.
If you look at the definitive guide to Commonwealth coinage (http://www.SunandAnchor.com), you will see both varieties listed and both
having six star rarity values. The
COMMONWEATH die (this coin) also has the missing stop after THE whereas the
missing T variety doesn’t. A great
rarity in the Commonwealth series being unrecorded in E.S.C. (Spink don’t
bother listing any variations), full of flan and nice grade. £895
WCom-6792: 1655 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Shilling. 5.82 grams / 89.8
grains, 30mm at its widest. Of the sun
initial marks, 55 and 57 are many, many times rarer than the other dates with
57 being twice as rare as 55. 1655 is
actually rarer than both 58 and 60 anchor shillings – as usual, Spink fail to
reflect this in their pricing. There are
less than 20 extant 1655 shillings in national and private hands compared to
getting on to 30-40 each of the 1658 and 1660.
The problem with this issue is that the 5 looks remarkably similar to a
3 and so when these coins are clipped, 1653 can look for all the world like
55. There are many “1655” shillings residing
in date collections all over the world that are actually the much more common
1653 dates. This coin is in excellent
grade, nicely toned and although slightly clipped – more likely just a thick,
small flan due to the good weight – there is enough of the 55 showing to
unambiguously attribute it to 55 – see here. If you go onto http://www.SunandAnchor.com
(an excellent reference site),
you wouldn’t even need to see the date to attribute this coin to 1655. An extremely rare coin that seldom comes up
for sale – in fact I couldn’t find a true 1655 that has been sold, recently or
otherwise – and in outstanding grade. I
can only locate three other examples, this one being better than all those
three coins in terms of grade. 
£1,875
Sixpencess
WCom-6328: 1651 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Sixpence – Rarer Variety.
Full of flan with a very clear date.
No stops at the initial mark (sun) – see SunandAnchor.com. Spink 3219 var. £445
WCom-6483: 1651 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Sixpence – Rarer Variety.
Full of flan and with a very clear date.
Rarer no stop after COMMONWEALTH variety. A straight 1651 obverse but
paired with a 1651/50 reverse, possibly indicating an early 1651 issue but utilising
an old, but still perfectly good 1650 reverse which they then put to good use
early 1651 but replacing the 0 with a 1.
Spink 3219 var. Ex Spink (see here). The 1650 obverse was problematic so effort
was put into the 51 obverse in terms of improvements. This is an interesting die combination. £595
WCom-5912: 1654 over 3 Commonwealth
Hammered Silver Sixpence. Relatively
full of flan – minimal clipping with an unusually clear date. This is the rarer 4 over 3 variety which
E.S.C. rates at R2. The coin has slight
creasing probably due to the practise of biting the coin to see if it was
genuine silver in the 1650’s. Some toning. £495
Halfgroats
WCom-6601: Commonwealth Hammered Silver Halfgroat or Twopence. 1649-60. Spink 3221. A high grade coin that was unevenly struck (ie angled strike). £125
