Thomas Simon English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 medalist, was born, according to Vertue

George Vertue

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.-Life:...

, in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 about 1623.

He studied engraving under Nicholas Briot

Nicholas Briot

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.-France:...

, and about 1635 received a post in connection with the Royal Mint

Royal Mint

The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...

. In 1645 he was appointed by the parliament joint chief engraver along with Edward Wade

Edward Wade

Edward Wade was a U.S. Representative from Ohio, brother of Benjamin Franklin Wade.Born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, Wade received a limited schooling.He moved to Andover, Ohio, in 1821, where he studied law....

, and, having executed the great seal of the Commonwealth

Commonwealth of England

The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...

 and dies for the coinage, he was promoted to be chief engraver to the mint

Royal Mint

The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...

 and seals. He produced several fine portrait medals of Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

, one of which is copied from a miniature by Samuel Cooper

Samuel Cooper

Samuel Cooper was an English miniature painter, and younger brother of Alexander Cooper.He is believed to have been born in London, and was a nephew of John Hoskins, the miniature painter, by whom he was educated. He lived in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, and frequented the Covent Garden...

.

After the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 he was appointed engraver of the king's seals. On the occasion of his contest with the brothers John

John Roettiers

John Roettiers was a celebrated British engraver and medallist.Roettiers was the oldest son of Philip Roettiers, a goldsmith of Antwerp. He took up the profession of stonecutter and medallist, with his earliest known productions being dated 1658 and 1660...

, Joseph

Joseph Roettiers

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

 and Philip Roettiers, who were employed by the mint in 1662, Simon produced his celebrated crown

Petition Crown

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....

 of Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, 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

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

in London in 1665.

A volume of The Medals, Coins, Great Seals and other Works of Thomas Simon, engraved and described by George Vertue, was published in 1753.
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