Thomas Simon

Last updated March 07, 2019

Thomas Simon (c. 1623 – 1665), English medalist, was born, according to Vertue, in Yorkshire about 1623.

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

George Vertue was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.

Yorkshire historic county of Northern England

Yorkshire, formally known as the County of York, is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Due to its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as a geographical territory and cultural region. The name is familiar and well understood across the United Kingdom and is in common use in the media and the military, and also features in the titles of current areas of civil administration such as North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and East Riding of Yorkshire.

Simon studied engraving under Nicholas Briot, and about 1635 received a post in connection with the Royal Mint. In 1645 he was appointed by the parliament joint chief engraver along with Edward Wade, and, having executed the great seal of the Commonwealth and dies for the coinage, he was promoted to be chief engraver to the mint and seals. He produced several fine portrait medals of Oliver Cromwell, one of which is copied from a miniature by Samuel Cooper.

Nicholas Briot was an innovative French coin engraver, medallist and mechanical engineer, who emigrated to England and became chief engraver to the Royal Mint in 1633 and is credited with the invention of the coining-press.

The Royal Mint is a government-owned mint that produces coins for the United Kingdom. Operating under the name Royal Mint Ltd, the mint is a limited company that is wholly owned by Her Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply all the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for use domestically and internationally, the mint also produces planchets, commemorative coins, various types of medals and precious metal bullion. The mint exports to an average of 60 countries a year, making up 70% of its total sales. Formed over 1,100 years ago, the mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain and eventually most of the British Empire. The original London mint from which the Royal Mint is the successor, was established in 886 AD and operated within the Tower of London for approximately 800 years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new 38 acres (15 ha) plant in Llantrisant, Wales where it has remained since.

Edward Wade was a U.S. Representative from Ohio, brother of Benjamin Franklin Wade.

After the Restoration Simon was appointed engraver of the king's seals. On the occasion of his contest with the brothers John, Joseph and Philip Roettiers, who were employed by the mint in 1662, Simon produced his celebrated crown of Charles II, on the margin of which he engraved a petition to the king. This is usually considered his masterpiece. He is believed to have died of the plague in London in 1665.

John Roettiers was a celebrated English engraver and medallist.

Joseph Roettiers (1635–1703) was a Flemish medallist active in England and France, and a member of the celebrated Roettier family of goldsmiths, silversmiths, and engravers.

The Petition Crown is a crown coin created in 1663 by Thomas Simon, an English medalist, then engraver of the king's seals at the Royal Mint. 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.

A volume of The Medals, Coins, Great Seals and other Works of Thomas Simon, engraved and described by George Vertue, was published in 1753. He worked together with his brother Abraham Simon.

Abraham Simon (1617-?1692) was an English medallist in the 17th century who worked closely with his brother Thomas Simon.

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Thomas Pingo (1714–1776) was an English medallist and die engraver. He worked for the Royal Mint in London. Originally thought to have come from Italy in 1742, and born there in 1692, he was in fact the son of Thomas Pingo Sr of Plumbtree Court, London. The Pingo family first appeared in London in the 1650s in the Parish of St Martins in the Fields.

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References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Simon, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

The public domain consists of all the creative works to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.

The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–11) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time. This edition of the encyclopedia, containing 40,000 entries, is now in the public domain, and many of its articles have been used as a basis for articles in Wikipedia. However, the outdated nature of some of its content makes its use as a source for modern scholarship problematic. Some articles have special value and interest to modern scholars as cultural artifacts of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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