Charles II, 'Petition' Crown Of 1663, By Thomas Simon

Note: technically, this is probably not a coin, but a trial or pattern.

I refer to the recent sale -
Spink's Sale 7023, 27 Sep 2007, London, Lot 503:

Catalogue description: "Charles II, Pattern Crown, 36.05g, 1663, the 'Petition' Crown by Thomas Simon, large laureate and draped bust of fine style facing right, struck in high relief, signature, simon below, carolvs ii .dei.gra, toothed border both sides, rev. struck en medaille, crowned cruciform shields arranged around insignia of the Order of the Garter, twelve strings to the Irish harp, interlinked c's in each angle, date either side of crown above English shield, .mag bri.fr et.hib rex.1663 edge inscribed in two lines in raised letters with an upright axis, thomas simon. most. hvmbly. prays. yovr majesty to. compare. this. his. tryall.piece.with.the. dutch.and.if. more/ trvly.drawn. & emboss'd. more.grace:fvlly.order'd.and. more. accvrately. engraven. to.releive.him, two crowned interlinked c's between branches of palms and laurels at beginning of edge legend (ESC 72; L&S 6; Bergne, NC 1854, p.137, number 2), well struck, small die flaw from c of carolvs, and small straight mark from bust to edge below bust, light hairline scratch in field behind bust and in field on reverse by mag, most attactive, even grey toning, about as struck, extremely rare and one of the most desirable British coins
Estimate £ 120,000-150,000"
Go to the Spink's website to see a picture. It's certainly a nice looking coin.

Sold for £180,000
Plus: "the Buyer must pay us the Buyer's premium at a rate of 20% of the final hammer price of each lot up to and including £2,000 and 15% of the excess of the hammer price above £2,000."
In this case, I calculate that to be: gbp 27,100

Total cost = gbp 207,100
(= 470,361.12 Razoos, in Oz)

The catalogue also includes the provenance of this coin, including the price it fetched at auctions over the last 250 years - that impresses me -
Dr. R Meade, Langford, 11-19 February 1755, lot 38 (£12)
S Tysson, Leigh, April-May 1802, lot 3016 (£105)
Sir M Sykes, Sotheby, 8-12 March. 1824, lot 367 (£210)
D Jones-Long, Sotheby, 17-20 January 1842, lot 401 (£170)
J Baker, Sotheby, 1-2 June 1855, lot 53 (£154)
TM Whitehead, Sotheby, 5 May 1898, lot 23 (£168)
HC Brunning, Sotheby, 18 March 1908, lot 23 (£155)
BA Seaby, sold privately to Mr. Glenister, 8 December 1944

So it seems that 1824 was in an expensive era for coin collecting.
But the jump from 1908 to 2007 looks encouraging .

Peter in Oz
(who was not the successful bidder)