A CHARLES II GOLD BROAD, 1662, BY THOMAS SIMON. A Charles II...

Hammer

£1,900

A CHARLES II GOLD BROAD, 1662, BY THOMAS SIMON. A Charles II Gold Broad by Thomas Simon, the obverse with laureate and draped bust right, within CAR.II.D.G.M.BR FR.ET.HI.REX reverse with crowned straight-sided shield, dated 1662 FLORENT.CONCORDIA.REGNA. With visible die crack between 'IA'. 28mm. Mounted in a George III toddy ladle, the oval body with hallmark for London 1813, makers mark obscured, on a twisted baleen handle with fine unmarked mounts. 37cm overall length.
These rare coins appear to have been manufactured in March and April 1662. Thomas Simon, Chief Engraver, was instructed to make a gold milled coin to the value of twenty shillings. He produced eight dies from the same puncheon. Production is thought to run to only 'a few thousand' coins with production ceasing due to failures of machinery production. The die crack that can be seen on the reverse is known to exist on at least three of the eight dies known.
Although slightly rubbed to the obverse the mounting of the coin in a toddy ladle has surely preserved it in remarkably good condition with a very crisp reverse. Mounting coins in ladles may have been fashionable in the 18th century but there can have been few coins of this rarity that were used for this purpose. *CR Coin mounted in a ladle, not removed from the ladle for examination.