IV: Coins of Oliver Cromwell, Halfcrown, 1656, an obverse trial strike in lead, laureate bust

IV: Coins of Oliver Cromwell, Halfcrown, 1656, an obverse trial strike in lead, laureate bust left, olivar d g r p ang sco et hi &c pro, edge plain, 21.58g/333.5gr (Lessen, BNJ 1996, H25a, this piece; cf. S 3227). Fine or better, UNIQUE £400-£600 --- Provenance: C. Freedman Collection, Spink Auction 55, 8 October 1986, lot 106 (part). Simon’s obverse die trial, strike or test impression. This is a genuine impression from the die as an early trial of sorts by Simon: the flan is larger than the die and the full extent of the die is apparent, showing the full beading of the die of about 2mm, in contrast to an actual silver coin with its truncated beading of about 1mm, proving that such an impression can only have been done by the die. The usual die flaws present on a silver coin are not evident here, but that might be because it is lead. To safeguard the die, and still get a good image from it, lead would have been an obvious choice of material, and the impression was probably made by a manual screw press, avoiding the use of great force – there is no way of knowing if the die was even hardened at this stage. This is one of the few surviving original Simon die proofs (others are the British Museum’s pewter shilling and lead Lord General obverse strikings, and two pewter sixpences, one of which was previously in the British Musuem, and some Charles II thin gold impressions)