Following
the Restoration of the Monarchy Charles II ordered trials for a milled coinage
from the newly appointed Dutch engravers, the Roettier brothers, at the Royal
Mint.
Charles II became indebted to the Roettiers family while he was
in exile as they lent him money. Charles promised a position for one or more of
the sons when and if he was restored to the throne. He kept his word and
invited Thomas Simon and the eldest of the Roettier boys (John) to work jointly
on the coinage dies. They could not, so, a contest was held. Simon, for
whatever reason, submitted nothing and Roettier won by default
The Worlds Most Prestigious and Valuable
Silver Coin
Simon, an audacious and creative
local engraver. was aggrieved that he had not been given the commission, and
was determined to be chosen as the official designer with his clever concepts.
Armed with a wonderful contemporary drawing of the King by the diarist and
close friend of the king Samuel Pepys, he set out to win the King over by
creating a coin which would highlight his skills.
Simon engraved the
dies for this fabulously detailed Crown featuring an arresting depiction of
Charles II’s bust on the obverse with “Simon” engraved just
below the King’s clothed neckline. Simon was the first engraver to bring
‘frosted’ parts to a coin. The spectacular details on the coin and
the medallic appearance allowed showed off his artistry in the portrait of the
King with such fine detail such as the candle light shadows of the King's vein
on the neck.
To dramatize his case, he placed a tiny inscription in two
rows of letters on its edge of the coin. The “Petition” of two
hundred raised letters in two lines around the coin’s rim, which is only
3.5mm deep, demonstrated his technical skill.
It read "
"THOMAS SIMON MOST HVMBLY PRAYS YOVR MAJESTY TO
COMPARE THIS HIS TRYALL PIECE WITH THE DVTCH AND IF MORE TRVLY DRAWN &
EMBOSS’D MORE GRACE; FVLLY ORDER’D AND MORE ACCURATELY ENGRAVEN TO
RELIEVE HIM "
Edge lettering was a
new idea for anti-counterfeiting and anti-clipping. From Peter Blondeau we know
little about how the edge was created. Blondau was not particularly welcomed in
Paris or London. The edge lettering design would end the illegal profit from
'clipping or filling' the silver or gold from the edge of the coin.
The
beauty of Simon’s crown has been acclaimed ever since he struck it.
However, The King felt obliged to the Roettiers and because of Simon's work for
the Commonwealth and the Oliver Cromwell milled coinage the King did not select
Simons's design, even though the coin was clearly the superior to the work of
the Roettiers. Charles picked the Roettier design as the winner. Alhough he
lost the contest, Simon did win lasting fame among numismatists..
The
roster below shows that surviving specimens, and can be divided into three
groups by condition. A single coin is clearly the finest known, followed by the
piece pictured above, and two others that grade XF45, and the remaining eight
coins, all in lower grades.
An Exibition at the ANA Money Museum in
Colorado USA will be held in the Spring of 2007 together with 40 of the finest
quality British Renaissance Coins ever to be displayed in the United States.
