The Petition Crown is a crown coin created in 1663 by Thomas Simon master of the Royal Mint, an English engraver. The coin was submitted directly to Charles II, King of England as Simon's personal 'petition' that only his coin should be considered as the new format for all future British coinage. The portrait of King Charles II even shows the shadows of the King's veins on his neck. The coin had the famous petition in two lines around the edge; it was concave on one side and convex on the other allowing the engraver to highlight the King's head in medallic relief.
Charles II, recently returned to England in 1660 after his exile abroad, commissioned a trial from the then-official engravers to the Royal Mint for this prestigious project. Eager to take the opportunity Simon submitted his silver prototype. It carried his name beneath the King's head, and his petition engraved in 200 letters in two lines around the coin's rim (which is only 3.5mm in depth) reading:
The marking of the edges of coins as a guard against clipping was only now being adopted in England. Although the coin came too late for King Charles to alter his plans, due to Simon's being in France, Simon produced an extraordinary specimen which today is in the Geoffrey Cope Collection. Another example is on exhibition at the American Numismatic Association museum in Colorado Springs, USA. It is believed that twelve original issues of the Petition Crown are extant today, with nine in museums.[1]
Simon's coin shows the bust of King Charles draped in his flowing hair and laurel leaves, with his celebrated lovelock over his right shoulder. The inscription reads CAROLVS II. DEI. GRA and on the reverse are crowned shields of England, Scotland, Ireland and France, arranged in the form of a cross, with garter and a picture of St. George in the center. There are two C's interlinked in each angle. The reverse of the coin is slightly convex and the portrait concave to show the King as a stronger feature of the coin.
A sale of this coin was recorded for £12 in 1775, since then this coin's rarity has seen it become one of the most valuable British coins. In 2003 a sale of the coin for £138,000 set a new record for a British silver coin at auction.[2]
Diameter: 40mm
Weight: 33.1g