Todays Hammered Silver Commonwealth Penny 1649-1660

[Gadget(Ian)]

Here is the picture of my Hammered Common wealth Penny 1649-1660 found today with Taff Laff (Rob)

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

Well done fella , I need to play catchup now

[Al.Thepastfinder, ( Alan )]

heyyyy  well done Ian,  we were only talking about them a  week or so back too lol
 nice one
Alan

[Richy]

Nice coin Ian, well found mate.

Richy.

[altinkum]

allways nice when 1 turn's up.  well found

[dragonsbreath(Paul)]

Great find nice to see one not holed....yet to find commonwealth myself.super.

[DIGGA]

CONGRATS ON THE HAMMERD IAN ....  WELL FOUND BUD

[Gadget(Ian)]

thanks guys.done a bit of research into the commonwealth coins its interesting reading:-

Cromwell and Commonwealth of England Coinage issued between 1649 and 1660.
Sometimes referred to as "breeches money" this type of late hammered coinage was minted in England after a period of civil war which culminated in the beheading of King Charles I in London in 1649.
Hammered coins from this period bear no portrait of a king or queen for there was none. Instead there is a simple puritan design. The reverse depicts co-joined shields of England and Ireland, with a date and the legend "GOD WITH VS". The obverse bears the legend "COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND" and a single shield in the centre with a mintmark, to complete the legend.
This period was also a time of innovation in minting coins. The traditional hammered technique for making coinage was coming under pressure from masters of forgery who made coins from de-based metals using crude home made dies and surface silvering and people who clipped coins.
The solution was offered by Peter Blondeau - milled coins - with edge writing. He was commissioned to prepare samples dated 1651 using his press. Although he completed this task, producing coins of extremely high quality the mint was not inclined to accept his innovation and fought to delay the introduction of his technology.
In 1656, after repeated attempts, Peter Blondeau persuaded parliament to take up his new press techniques, and he was finally commissioned to make the "Cromwell Coinage" using dies made by Thomas Simon, with gold and silver supplied from the mint. These coins were made in limited numbers.
During 1657 there was a Trial of the Pix, where retained coins from the mint were tested for both weight and metal purity. The mintmark sun which had been the universal mintmark was changed after the trial to an anchor mintmark which was used for the remaining years 1658 to 1660.
Peter Blondeau was to make one final series of Cromwell coins using dies supplied by Thomas Simon dated 1658. These milled coins were made in significant numbers but not without production problems. The Cromwell silver crown of 1658 is notable for a die crack in the lower half of the coin.
Oliver Cromwell died while Peter Blondeau was producing milled coins in 1658. In the remaining two years the mint reverted to making hammered coinage which seems to have been produced in very small quantities with poor quality before the monarchy was restored in 1660.

[onehorseAl( Al)]

Nice find Ian,looks to be in good nick too!
Al

[hedgehog]

Great condition nice find, interesting info too , well found Ian.

[simon c]

Well found Ian,very interesting post thanks for the info

[mole]

Interesting find Ian I,d like to know your explorer 11 program good hunting ::)mole

[Yankee]

Well Done!

[mickycoin "mick"]

nice find i have only ever found one commonwealth  coin in over 20 years of detecting well done to you   mick

[Kev]

that's a beauty Ian never found one of those ,nice looking coin as well bet you were well pleased with that m8. great find.