The North Yorkshire Moors Collection of British Coins

XVI: Later Cromwell Medals, Abraham and Thomas Simon, a pair of uniface cast silver portrait medals, c. 1750, probably by J. Stuart for Vertue, bust of A. Simon right, wearing a medal of Queen Christina of Sweden suspended from a chain around his neck, 50 x 38mm, 37.90g (cf. Jones p. 70, 169); bust of T. Simon three-quarters left, 50 x 38mm, 42.82g (Nathanson p.9; Vertue p.57, pl. xxv; MI I, 512/154-5) [2]. Good very fine and toned, both with faded ink inscriptions on reverse, extremely rare
£500-£700

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The North Yorkshire Moors Collection of British Coins.

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Provenance: ‘Strawberry Hill Sale’ [Horace Walpole], Part I, George Robbins (London), 25 April-21 May 1842, lot unspecified; R.M. Foster Collection, Sotheby Auction, 3-5 November 1903, lot 333; Helen Farquhar Collection, Glendining Auction, 25 April 1955, lot 299 (part) [from Spink February 1905]; A.P. Adams Collection, Part I, Glendining Auction, 16 March 1989, lot 152; Spink Auction 119, 4 March 1997, lot 247; bt CNG May 1997.

The bust of Abraham Simon is apparently copied from the wax-on-glass self portrait in the British Museum. The likeness of Thomas is not attributable. The name ‘Stuart’ as the possible maker of this and some of the other medals in the collection, refers to an eighteenth century London medallist whose style of Cromwell and related medal copies is fairly distinct, and unrelated to those of Kirk or Pingo. James ‘Athenian’ Stuart was a well-known archaeologist, architect and figure in the art world, best known for his central role in pioneering Neoclassicism, who designed and sponsored medals, but current opinion suggests that Stuart was not a medallist himself. The possibility that some of these medals were struck in the Netherlands in the 18th century cannot be completely dismissed