sorry photos are a bit large
1649 Silver Halfcrown
1651 “Blondeau” Halfcrown
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 and stops, to complete the legend.
A solution was offered by Peter Blondeau - milled coins - with edge writing. After travelling over from France he was commissioned to prepare 100 samples each of two halfcrowns with differing edge lettering, a shilling and a sixpence, all 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 on the basis of his production costs being too high.
In 1656, after repeated attempts, Peter Blondeau persuaded parliament to take up his new press techniques, and he was finally commissioned to make the now famous milled "Cromwell Coinage" using dies made by Thomas Simon, with gold and silver supplied from the mint. These coins were made in very limited numbers in the year 1657.
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 milled Cromwell coins using dies believed to have been 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 - see Cromwell Crown.
Oliver Cromwell died while Peter Blondeau was producing milled coins in London in 1658. In the remaining two years the mint reverted back to making hammered coinage which seems to have been produced in very small quantities with poor quality before the monarchy was restored in 1660.
Cromwell Halfcrown, 1658
1651-57 Sun Mintmark
1658-60 Anchor Mintmark
