Silver Broad - Charles II Pattern

The 1662 silver Broad patterns were produced as the Royal Mint was transitioning from hammered to milled coinage — a shift made possible by the installation of Frenchman Pierre Blondeau's roller and screw presses, which Charles II had authorized after decades of official resistance from the Mint's own staff. These pieces were never intended for circulation; they were demonstration strikes, produced to show the new machinery's capabilities and to secure royal approval for the milled series that would follow.

Blondeau had first proposed his process to the English mint as early as 1649 and was effectively blocked by entrenched hammer-coiners for over a decade.