The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 23, June 10, 2007, Article 13

ANA EXHIBITS CROMWELL PETITION CROWN

The Independent of Colorado Springs published an article about the 
latest exhibit (running through November 2008) at the headquarters 
of the American Numismatic Association:

".. a new exhibit at the American Numismatic Association Money Museum 
will have people staring at a coin with reverence. Coins, Crown and 
Conflict, which opens today, will feature several genuine articles 
from Oliver Cromwell's 17th-century England. 

"A central exhibit, 'The Petition Crown,' is one of the most sought- 
after chunks of change among collectors. Worth $5 million, the coin 
contains a plea along its rim from its maker, Thomas Simon, to King 
Charles II, asking the king to reconsider his choice of a Dutch 
minter's coin design over his, in 1663. 

"The death mask of Cromwell — a major historical figure who was 
actually exhumed in order to be formally executed — will also be 
on display. Gauntlets (the gloves, not video games), penny Bibles 
and apparel will also show the public what life was like well before 
people thought of loud money as a nuisance. 

To read the complete article, see:  Full Story

[A nice photo of the coin and its edge inscription appear below. 
The inscription reads: "THOMAS SIMON MOST HVMBLY PRAYS YOVR MAJESTY 
TO COMPARE THIS HIS TRYALL PIECE WITH THE DVTCH AND IF MORE TRVLY 
DRAWN & EMBOSS'D MORE GRACE; FVLLY ORDER'D AND MORE ACCURATELY 
ENGRAVEN TO RELIEVE HIM" 
Image

The edge lettering design was a new idea to combat the illegal 
profit from clipping silver or gold from the edge of the coin. 

On a related topic, E-Sylum subscriber Peter Gaspar has written 
about the numismatic content of the Max Carrados stories by author 
Ernest Braham, including a short story hinging on a Petition Crown. 
-Editor]

Gaspar writes: "More than a half-dozen of the Carrados stories 
feature coins. The author was on solid ground. Bramah's 1929 book 
on the copper coinage of England was the first to call attention 
to the significance of small variations in design as clues to the 
methods used to make the dies from which modern coins are struck. 
As in his short stories Bramah made a few words go a very long way, 
so that despite the lack of illustrations one can immediately 
recognize a specific coin described by Bramah. What sounds like 
a dry subject was enlivened by the wit that sparkles throughout 
Bramah's work. One of the Carrados stories, "The Mystery of the 
Vanished Petition Crown" describes an auction scam that may have 
been the model for a famous real-life 1970's coin theft from 
Glendining's in London." 
Full Story

To read Ernest Braham's "The Mystery of the Vanished Petition Crown", see: 
Full Story 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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