Auction Name: 2026 January 12 NYINC World & Ancient Coins Platinum Session and Signature® Auction - New York

Lot Number: 32004

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/3129*32004

Oliver Cromwell gold Proof Pattern Broad of 20 Shillings 1656 AU58 NGC, KM-Pn25, S-3225, W&R-39 (R2), EGC-75. Reeded edge. By Thomas Simon. Coinage from the Commonwealth period continues to attract collectors because of its connection to the tumult that plagued the island nation. Cromwellian coins offer history lovers a tactile way to study and remember this history while also serving as artistic and technological repositories of the period. This specimen stands out for its crisply rendered devices and patina that still glistens with golden luster. The essentially full definition of the portrait hosts the textured stippling characteristic to the type. Although some gentle wisping prevents a Mint State designation, this piece is no less beautiful than the handful of uncirculated pieces that we have had the privilege of handling.

After the English Civil War terminated in 1649 with the execution of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the anti-monarchist Parliamentarians, became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England. Seven years later, through the combination Thomas Simon's masterful engraving and the engineering know-how of Pierre Blondeau, the Cromwell portrait series was created. A step towards hypocritically representing Cromwell as King, this milled coinage featured the Lord Protector wearing a laureate wreath and the reverse shield featuring a crown, its overall quality a significant improvement over previous issues. Produced entirely in Blondeau's own private Drury House (as the Tower Mint moneyers loathed Blondeau and refused to let him work alongside them), the coinage was designed as a statement of Cromwell's power and to serve as an example of the dramatic improvements in coin production under the Commonwealth.
From the Naim Margulis Collection of British Coinage

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