See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration! or register with email

Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!

1 Shilling - Commonwealth of England Pattern

Issuer England
Year 1651
Type Log in to see details
Value 1 Shilling (1/20)
Currency Log in to see details
Composition Log in to see details
Weight Log in to see details
Diameter Log in to see details
Thickness Log in to see details
Shape Log in to see details
Technique Log in to see details
Orientation Log in to see details
Engraver(s) Log in to see details
In circulation to Log in to see details
Reference(s) Log in to see details
Obverse description Log in to see details
Obverse script Latin
Obverse lettering Log in to see details
Reverse description Log in to see details
Reverse script Log in to see details
Reverse lettering Log in to see details
Edge Milled
Mint Log in to see details
Mintage Log in to see details
Additional information

This piece dates to the Interregnum, when England's mint faced an acute ideological problem: what to put on coins when you've just executed the king. The Commonwealth's answer was to strip royal imagery entirely and replace it with heraldic shields — a decision made by Parliament in 1649 that broke with centuries of English numismatic convention. Pattern strikes from 1651 predate the fully authorized Commonwealth shilling series and were likely produced to demonstrate acceptable designs to parliamentary committees.

The dies were cut by Thomas Simon, the most accomplished engraver of the period, who had previously worked under the Crown.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE