Interestingly, while this medal is actually dated 1660, it was struck c. 1661-2 to commemorate Charles II’s return to England after the Commonwealth fell. This discrepancy in dating can be accounted for by the production time needed to create the dies and strike the coins. Struck with dies created by Thomas Simon, this Pattern AR Broad stands as a testament to his prodigious artistic abilities, for which he charged the crown £16. It is unclear if this fee was solely for the reverse die or for the pair. Regardless, according to A New History of the Royal Mint (published in 1993 by Cambridge University Press) even though Simon's dies were artistically unrivaled, he "had demonstrated his inability to produce dies which would withstand the press[es striking force]". While Simmons’s lack of production quality did not impact this particular example, it did eventually contribute to his losing out on a number of mint contracts.