Broad: Charles II (obverse); Shields (reverse) (1660): Art, History and Details

Broad: Charles II (obverse); Shields (reverse) (1660) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Thomas Simon (British, c. 1623–1665).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The hammered series of English coins was now nearing its end. In 1662 and from that time forward, all coins were produced by the mill and screw press, which gradually developed into modern minting machinery. From 1660 till 1662 hammered coins were still produced while the Mint was being reformed. In preparing the designs for the new mill coinage many pattern pieces were produced, of which this rare and exceptionally attractive piece is one.

Object facts

• Title: Broad: Charles II (obverse); Shields (reverse)
• Date: 1660
• Creator attribution: Thomas Simon (British, c. 1623–1665)
• Culture: England, Charles II, 1660-1685
• Type: Coins
• Technique: gold
• Dimensions: Diameter: 3.4 cm (1 5/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Numismatics
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1969.198

A detail from the museum

The shields on the reverse show England, Scotland, France, and Ireland in a cruciform shape with crowned interlocked Cs in between.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Emery May Norweb. English Gold Coins, Ancient to Modern Times, On Loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art from the Norweb Collection. [Catalog. 1968.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.