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)
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 RESERVED
(LayAway “N”
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
