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-9043:
1642 Robert Deveraux English Civil War Silver-Gilt Military Reward
Medal. 3rd Earl of
Provenance:
ex Christopher Foley Collection, dispersed 2014
Commonwealth
(Hammered)
Full Crowns
WCom-7797:
1653 Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Full Crown. Initial mark Sun, Spink 3215. Cromwell was adamant he wasn’t going to be
“kinglike” so his portrait was absent on all hammered coinage (we’ll gloss over
what happened with the new milled coinage of 1656 and 1658!) which made for a
very different looking kind of currency.
Points of interest are:
1.
The reverse V in VS is very much a recycled, inverted (upside own)
letter A. An
accidental oversight? Just time
& effort saving? Or
a die sinker’s identification marker?
There’s a Ph.D to be had there!!
2.
There are a total of three obverse letter Os in OF, one atop the other,
indicating that this coin had been struck at least three times. It’s a nice indication as to how these things
were made – this was a lot of cold silver to get the die impression onto. I’d have thought that four strikes, each time
rotating the die and planchet around by 90 degrees, hoping to not get a double
/ triple strike, would be a minimum.
Maybe this employee was very good at what he did, or perhaps he really
did hit the coin four times and we just can’t see the fourth time? Many of you will be aware of the bevelled
appearance seen particularly on Charles 1st halfcrowns, which again
is an indication of this multi rotational strike process.
The inverted A in VS rates at R3 (“extremely rare”) in Spink’s ESC – remember that when you look in the standard
Spink price guide, everything is priced to the commonest possible variety. Being of close to full weight, this is a nice
grade, unadulterated, honest example of the highest silver Commonwealth
denomination. The toning is steely grey
with hints of lustre, although I have to admit to metaphorically murdering this
coin in my woeful photographic representation – this one is perhaps more
illustrative. Commonwealth coinage
was primarily London-centric with the Shires using whatever they could get
their hands on, not that there was much wealth evident outside of
Halfrowns
WCom-8153:
1655 Commonwealth
Hammered Silver Halfcrown. Initial mark Sun, Spink
3215. A contemporary counterfeit
of the day from very good quality dies (this would pass as legitimate to most
people then and now) and remarkably good weight. The lettering is good, albeit irregularly
positioned in places, as is the initial mark.
The cross hatching on the shield is flat but they at least had a go -
this was hard even for the official die sinkers to get right (it was one of the
main reasons why 1650 didn't happen for silver coinage). 1655 is an incredibly rare year for all
denomination but particularly halfcrowns.
There are about as many extant examples of this coin
than I have fingers (and I don't include the thumb) on my left
hand. They really are that rare. Obviously this is a contemporary counterfeit,
albeit one from high execution dies with what looks like decent silver. It was and still is standard practice for
counterfeiters to copy common coinage in order that their spurious coinage is
swamped by it all - in this scenario, not seeing the single tree for the wood
surrounding it. And yet they chose this
date? Stranger still when you learn that
the dies were modelled on the late 1651 coinage! Outstanding provenance, being part of the
famous Blackfriars' 1997 hoard of Commonwealth and some earlier (Edward VI
onwards) coinage - 1,582 coins, all found together on the
Provenance:
ex Blackfriars' Hoard (1997)
ex
ex Haddenham collection
ex Spink
Shillings
WCom-8154:
1649 Commonwealth
Hammered Silver Shilling. Initial mark Sun, Spink
3217. The very
first date in the
Provenance:
ex Haddenham collection
ex Spink
WCom-7216: 1651 Hammered Silver
Commonwealth Shilling. Initial mark Sun, Spink 3217. A slightly better date and the rarer “no
obverse stops” variety – see the excellent Sun & Anchor website (http://www.SunandAnchor.com)
for a full list of varieties. When
looking at Spink for a price guide (and it’s very much a guide),
their pricing is for commonest, non variety coins. £725
WCom-8155:
1652 Commonwealth
Hammered Silver Shilling. Initial mark Sun, Spink
3217. Rarer no stop after THE on
the obverse. 1652 is not a rare year but
the output in this year is but a fraction of the output in 1653 and 1656. Very nice grade although the old,
straightened bend has left its mark.
£395
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 RESERVED (W.B.10-3-25
Lay-Away)
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-8156:
1656 over 4 Commonwealth
Hammered Silver Shilling. Initial mark Sun, Spink
3217. A common enough year,
although this is the 1656 over 1654 overdate variety. This coin, weighing in at a very impressive
(almost full weight) 5.85g is all about grade.
Commonwealth coinage, especially the stuff in mainstream circulation
between the 1650's and 1696 - halfcrowns, shillings, sixpences and pence, were
well used and as most Commonwealth coinage was London-centric, it got REALLY
well used, to the point where what you mainly see today are very worn, often
problematic and simply not very nice coins.
Whilst there are better grade extant examples out there, you 're unlikely to be able to buy them unless you get lucky
and have deep pockets. I'm a keen buyer
of grade Commonwealth and I don't think I've ever had a better grade 1656
shilling. Not choice but a jolly good
coin never-the-less. £895
Provenance:
ex Michael Trenerry (2023)
WCom-9056: 1656 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Shilling. Initial
mark Sun, Spink 3217. Both the
obverse and reverse W letters look to be made from adapted letter Vs. There is clearly some double striking - the
reverse lettering was originally a good character space to the left of where it
is now. What really intrigues me is the
date. It came to me as a 1656 over 1655
but it clearly isn't that. It's a plain
6 over 6 due to the double strike but if you actually look at what we have, it
defies explanation; at least I can't explain it. The 6 on the left is the original 6 and is
also in the correct position. However,
the second 6 to the right, being clearly struck over the left 6, is the one
they wanted at the mint. The circle of
that second 6 is missing, seemingly stopped dead in its tracks at the boundary
of the first 6's imprint. This is where
the idea it was a 6/5 originated from.
Further, the second 6 comes with some beading on the lower portion of
the circle but that attached beading curves in the wrong direction; outwards
rather than inwards to make a circle. Makes no sense! A most interesting coin. £435
Sixpences
WCom-7610:
1652 Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Sixpence. A most interesting coin being
1652 over 1651, over 1649 in date.
Spink 3219.
Further, the 6 of the date appears to be a large 6 over a reversed
smaller 6, which I believe is unrecorded.
Further still, the right hand stop at the initial mark Sun is a small
pellet over a large pellet. The detailed
accompanying ticket, whilst mentioning none of this, does draw attention to the
D of ENGLAND being re-entered and off to one side. This at first glance appears to be simply
double striking but it’s actually not - if you look closely, the bottom D has a
bottom right curving serif whilst the uppermost D has a corresponding angular
serif. They are very different letter
D’s. Again, unrecorded
to my knowledge. 1652 is the year
where many more shillings and halfcrowns were issued compared to
sixpences. The coin itself has been bent
twice in antiquity, as so many were (often done with the teeth to gauge silver
content), and subsequently straightened out.
Attractively toned both sides. As I initially said, a most
interesting coin, not to mention grade.
£765
WCom-5912: 1654 over 3 Commonwealth
Hammered Silver Sixpence. Relatively full of flan – minimal clipping with an unusually clear
date. Spink 3219.
1654 is
a rarer date and in a somewhat exclusive “less than 100 extant examples known”
club. Better still, this is the rarer 4
over 3 variety which E.S.C. rates at R2, around 32
known examples. 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. £545 RESERVED (M.He
WCom-7928:
1656 over 52
Commonwealth Hammered Silver Sixpence - a most unusual coin! Initial mark Sun so struck
under the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell – later
Anchor coins were under his son, Richard Cromwell. Spink 3219. A 1656 sixpence but with only x6 harp
strings, which simply can't be. There is
a 1656 variety with x8 harp strings but definitely not x6. The answer is that this is actually a 1653
(or earlier) reverse that has been dug out of the used die bucket and
purposefully altered (ie a Cromwellian form of
recycling!) in date to become 1656.
Looking at the date itself, there are very odd things going off with the
"5" (there are two DIFFERENT "5" punches, one overstruck on
the other, and possibly a third, although that third one may be simply down to
double striking). Also,
the second "6" looks to be a thin "6" over a fatter
"6". The final
"6" in the date has some residual evidence at the top of its ascender
indicating the top diagonal of the original number, either a "2" or a
"3". The excellent http://www.SunandAnchor.com kindly looked at this coin and
offered 1652 as a reverse die (has to be pre 53 due to harp strings and reverse
shields conform to 52) and 1652 on the obverse (can't be 51 due to large
initial mark and COMMONWEALTH is typical of 52). So here we have just what I promised in the
title - a nice, presentable 1656 Commonwealth sixpence that is actually from
1652 dies and even more unusually, when they randomly dug their hand into the
bucket full of old, discarded dies, they actually pulled out same date old
dies! Many thanks again to http://www.SunandAnchor.com.
I know most of you will be familiar with this site but if not, please do
pay them a visit. A
very nice example from one of the most interesting periods in British history,
not to mention the fact that this is an unrecorded 1656/2 coin. £695 RESERVED (M.He.3-12-23)
Halfgroats
WCom-7556:
Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Halfgroat. 1649 – 60.
No legend other than mark of denomination, which I think was the first
and last time this had happened on a halfgroat? Spink 3221. Very good grade for issue. £185
WCom-7594: 1649-60 Oliver Cromwell’s
Commonwealth Hammered Silver Halfgroat.
An issue actually spanning not just Oliver Cromwell’s
stewardship but also that of his son, Richard Cromwell. Spink 3221. Very good grade for issue. £185
WCom-7623:
Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Twopence. Struck 1649-60. A centrally struck,
problem-free attractive coin being much above average. Spink 3221. A very nice coin from a
somewhat interesting period of British history. £145
WCom-7929:
1649-60
Commonwealth Hammered Silver Halfgroat.
A centrally struck, problem-free attractive coin being
much above average. Spink 3221. A very nice coin from a somewhat interesting period of British
history. £165
Pennies
WCom-7351:
Oliver Cromwell’s
Commonwealth Hammered Silver Penny. Struck 1649-60 so of course, this could well be a later Richard Cromwell
piece. A
centrally struck, problem-free attractive coin being much above average. Spink 3222. Ex Dr E. Birstall
collection (sold with his ticket and paper envelope). A very nice coin from a
somewhat interesting period of British history. £165
WCom-7622:
Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Penny. Struck 1649-60. A centrally struck,
problem-free attractive coin being much above average. Spink 3222. Ex
Shaun Aldom collection. A very nice coin from a
somewhat interesting period of British history. £175
Halfpennies
WCom-7595:
1649-60 Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Halfpenny. An issue actually spanning
not just Oliver Cromwell’s stewardship but also that of his son, Richard
Cromwell. Spink
3223. The rarest of the pence
issues by some margin. £195
WCom-8069:
1649-60 Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Halfpenny. An issue actually spanning
not just Oliver Cromwell’s stewardship but also that of his son, Richard
Cromwell. Spink
3223. Spink, bless them, consider
this denomination a little commoner than the Commonwealth penny (which is
ridiculous) and a little more commoner still than the
Commonwealth halfgroat (bordering on the outrageous). In the real world, the halfpenny is the
rarest of the pence issues and by some margin.
A tiny coin that could easily have been lost but
literally was what an actual halfpenny was equivalent to in silver bullion back
in the day, so that dictated the size of the coin. Small though this is, it is not the smallest
hammered coin ever to hit the streets of
WCom-7930:
1649-60 Oliver
Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Halfpenny. An issue actually spanning
not just Oliver Cromwell’s stewardship but also that of his son, Richard
Cromwell. Spink
3223. Spink, bless them, consider
this denomination a little commoner than the Commonwealth penny (which is
ridiculous) and a little more commoner still than the
Commonwealth halfgroat (bordering on the outrageous). In the real world, the halfpenny is the
rarest of the pence issues and by some margin.
A tiny coin that could easily have been lost but
literally was what an actual halfpenny was equivalent to in silver bullion back
in the day, so that dictated the size of the coin. Small though this is, it is not the smallest
hammered coin ever to hit the streets of
