| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 145 with CNG & NGSA | Auction date: 8 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 1306 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: The Geoffrey Cope Collection of British Coins. Charles II. 1660-1685. Pattern AR Crown – The famous 'Petition' Crown (33.095 g). By Thomas Simon. Dated 1663. CAROLVS II · DEI · GRA, laureate and draped bust right / · MAG BRI · FR ET · HIB REX · 16 63, Crowned cruciform coats-of-arms around central device of St. George slaying the dragon within garter; interlocked Cs in angles. Edge: THOMAS SIMON • MOST • HVMBLY • PRAYS • YOUR • MAJESTY TO • COMPARE • THIS • HIS • TRYALL • WITH • THE • DVTCH • AND • IF • MORE/ TRVLY • DRAWN & • EMBOSS'D • MORE • GRACE: FVLLY • ORDER'D • AND • MORE • ACCVRATELY • ENGRAVEN • TO • RELIEVE • HIM •. L&S 6; Bull 429; ESC 72; SCBC 3354A (this coin illustrated). A magnificent coin. A few light hairlines. Extensive mint brilliance under deep cabinet tone. The edge lettering beautifully clear. Extremely rare. Top Pop. The highest graded. In NGC encapsulation 2153882-010, graded MS 63+). Ex Slaney (Part I, Spink 163, 15 May 2003), lot 136; H. M. Lingford (Part I, Glendining, 24 October 1950), lot 268 ('in beautiful state'); Mrs. Morrieson Collection (widow of H.W. Morrieson), circa 1933. This coin exhibited, Coins, Crown & Conflict, American Numismatic Association, Money Museum, 2007. 'For the honour of our countrymen, I cannot here omit that ingenious trial of skill which a commendable emulation has produced in a medal performed with extraordinary accuracy by one who having been deservedly employed in the Mint at the Tower, was not willing to be supplanted by foreigners.' John Evelyn, Numismata, 1697 The outcome of the contest between Thomas Simon and Jan Roettiers which led to the creation of the numismatic tour de force offered here is well known. As George Brooke succinctly put it: 'The result was a forgone conclusion. Art was defeated by personal feeling.' Simon's failure to successfully petition the king - who was financially indebted to Jan's father - has only deepened the admiration of successive generations of scholars, collectors and art lovers for this spectacular coin. Seldom has a failure been universally considered such a triumph. In one giant stride, Simon fused his supremely talented artistic vision with a perfect understanding of the full extent of the possibilities offered by mechanised coin production. Unfettered by the Puritan restraints he had laboured under during The Commonwealth, Simon engraved a high relief portrait of the king which embraced the new baroque feeling of the age but avoided the excesses of this style by grounding it in a classicism he had honed with his portrait coinage for Cromwell some six years earlier. Simon's 'delineation of the king's features – immeasurably superior to what Roettiers could contrive – concentrates the observer's full and avid attention upon a feat of modelling and characterization for which no praise can be too high.' This obverse was combined with a balanced reverse of clarity, movement and intricacy which proclaims Charles's kingdoms and his descent from the Martyr King – Carolus Carolo – all centred on that potent symbol of royal chivalry, the badge of the Order of the Garter and the victory of Good over Evil. An intimate knowledge of the capabilities of the machinery of Pierre Blondeau, that they had experimented with since 1651, allowed Simon to apply the lettered edge par excellence bearing his forlorn appeal. The result was a silver crown of such beauty and technical brilliance that it leaves every subsequent British coin in its wake. Indeed, it can be asserted that with the Petition Crown, Thomas Simon created the most beautiful coin of the modern, machine struck, era. With this coin Simon confirmed his place at the forefront of English engravers and, in his complete mastery of his medium, he can be ranked on a par with the greatest celators of the ancient world. Estimate: 500000 CHF |  |
