During the Great
Rebellion against Charles 1, many necessity coins were issued.
Siege pieces
were issued when the King had to pay his troops at a time when the mint was
controlled by the Puritan rebels.
Similar to the later
Irish “gun-money,” these coins were well above the usual crude level of
necessity money.
From 1649 to 1660,
the period of the Commonwealth, England
The commonwealth
coins are quite plain, in keeping with the familiar Puritan sternness and are
probably the plainest of all English coins.
Portraits are absent,
but the Puritan arms, featuring the St.
George’s
The coins were
sometimes known as Breeches Money because the conjoined shield on the reverse
of the coins resembled a pair of breeches.
It is interesting to
note also that this is the only time when the inscriptions on the English coins
occur in English rather than Latin.
In 1656 and 1658 a
series of coins consisting of the 50s., 20s. and 10s. in gold, the crown,
half-crown and shilling in silver, bearing the portrait of Oliver Cromwell and
his coat of arms was struck.
They all show the
same basic design, the large ones having inscriptions and the smaller pieces
from the half groat downwards being too small.
The main type is the
shield of St. George on the obverse with the inscription “THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND
The reverse depicts
the conjoined shields of England
and Ireland
Shortly before the
death of Cromwell, some beautiful patterns were struck with his portrait.
These beautiful coins
were the work of the famous die sinker Thomas Simon, who was then chief
engraver to the Royal Mint.
Denominations
Commonwealth 1649-1660
1 Crown. Shield of
St. George. Rev: Shields of St. George and Ireland
1 Half-crown
1 Shilling
6 Pence
2 Pence
1 Penny
1 Halfpenny. Shield
of St. George. Rev: Shield of Ireland
Oliver Cromwell, Protector 1653-58
1 Crown. Laureate
bust of Oliver Cromwell. Rev: Crowned shields
1 Half-crown
1 Shilling
