BLONDEAU'S COMMONWEALTH PATTERNS

 

Peter (Pierre) Blondeau was brought to London to improve the coinage of the Commonwealth. First minted in 1649, it was a coinage by committee with a design that expressed a puritan dislike for anything ornamental. Realistic portraits, ornate shields, and Latin inscriptions gave way to a coin with a simple shield on the obverse—St. George's cross, a repeat of the shield along with an Irish shield on the reverse, and a simple legend in English to replace the Latin phrases of the Stuart coins. It was produced under Thomas Simon, Master of the Mint, who probably was not particularly happy with it, a view widely shared by the public. No one knows who actually designed the coin.

It wasn't the design that was of concern on the part of the Council of State and the House of Commons. Counterfeiting and clipping were the immediate concerns and Blondeau was already known for work he had done for the Irish mint in 1654 and 1655 and his milling techniques—improved machinery for striking money. This mechanical striking of coins provided edges that defied clipping as well as coins having a beautiful polish.

Cost of production was not an issue. Blondeau offered to coin for the very self-same price as the Mint incurred with the traditional hammering of coins.

Convincing the Council was not Blondeau's chief problem. The moneyers at the Mint were just as resistant to Blondeau's coining mill as had been the workers several decades earlier when Mestrelle had brought a milling machine to the coinage of Elizabeth I and struck six pences dated from 1561 to 1571. Their resistance was fierce and, ultimately, as effective as it had been earlier. One important distinction: Mestrelle was ultimately convicted of forgery. Blondeau was celebrated as a man of respectable position. He also was never paid for his work and expenses incurred over four years of trying to satisfy the Commonwealth officials. (Oliver Cromwell, however, did use and pay him and granted him a pension of £100 per year. Thomas Simon used his dies to mint the Cromwell coins of 1656 to 1658).

Blondeau made about three hundred silver pieces—patterns—at his own expense. Apparently Thomas Simon was the engraver. His skill shows in the perfection of the work and such fine touches as the frosting of the St. George's cross. Blondeau reported that he had made some gold pieces but none are now known. One document reports that he made his patterns in a private house in the Strand, doubtless in order to prevent the Mint officers from discovering his secrets. He minted two halfcrowns that differ by edge lettering. His shilling and his sixpence have edges milled with straight lines.

With only 300 examples across all denominations, the Blondeau patterns are all rare. A few escaped into circulation. Despite the rigors of handling and whatever else time can do to an unprotected bit of silver coinage, even a piece we now call Very Fine demonstrates the exceptional quality of Blondeau's work—even appearing design still in strong relief, a fully intact edge, and surfaces that still express the skill that Simon brought to using Blondeau's exceptional minting techniques.

(A detailed account of Blondeau's work for the Mint along with copies of documents at the time is available in Henfrey's Numismata Cromwelliana published in London in 1877.)

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