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. £1,125
Commonwealth
(Hammered)
Hammered
Gold
Hammered Silver
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
Shillings
WCom-7854: 1649 Commonwealth Hammered
Silver Shilling. Initial mark Sun,
struck
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-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-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-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
Sixpencess
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-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. The rarest of the pence
issues by some margin. A tiny coin that could easily have been lost but that 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