A Pine Tree 3 Pence Completes My Denomination Set of Mass. Silver

BillJones · March 28, 2012 3:00AM

My main focus was on the auction at this Baltimore show, but I did spend a lot of time on the bourse. There were a few wonderful coins there, but they were not be this time.

The one big piece I did buy on the bourse was the Massachusetts Pine Tree 3 pence. These tiny coins are scarce but they sell for prices that are similar to the much more common shillings because the collector demand for them is much less. This piece is a Noe 36. It is also listed as W-640 in David Bowers' wonderful book on U.S. colonial coins. The Universal Rarity Scale (URS) rating is 9 which translates to an estimated population of 125 to 249 pieces. My guess is the population is in the lower range of that increment with less than 200 pieces known.

Now I have an Oak Tree 2 pence, a Pine Tree 3 Pence, a Pine Tree 6 pence and three shillings (Oak Tree, Large Pine Tree and Small Pine Tree). I doubt that this collection will grow because I don't collect varieties and the Oak Tree 3 and 6 pence pieces are very, very scarce and often in low grades. As for the NE and Willow Tree coins, I'll leave those to the museums and the specialists.

Bochiman · March 28, 2012 3:07AM

Excellent!
Everything about that coin screams "SWEET!"

Love the details on the coin....almost 400 years old and looking like that...wow!

I still need a MASS silver example and would love something like that, but I don't think finances allow it yet (I still have a pre-college son that I have to prepare for

)

relicsncoins · March 28, 2012 3:07AM

Nice Piece Bill.

golden · March 28, 2012 3:35AM

Super coin! What does she grade?

Weiss · March 28, 2012 4:01AM

Outstanding.

bronzemat · March 28, 2012 4:03AM

Very cool, congrats.

Lakesammman · March 28, 2012 4:56AM

Looks like a nice one - congrats!

Pistareen · March 28, 2012 4:58AM

Bill was nice enough to show me this coin in Baltimore -- it looks even better in hand. Very pleasing and well balanced, a contrast to the wavy/off-center/problem pieces so common for this denomination.

Well played.

etexmike · March 28, 2012 4:59AM

That is a great looking Pine Tree. Huge congrats.

Mike

keyman64 · March 28, 2012 5:09AM

Very cool, congrats Bill! That looks really nice!

SaorAlba · March 28, 2012 5:18AM

That is a very nice fishy scale from the Bay State. As you note the shillings are far more common - no doubt because they are easier to find by detectorists and there were probably more of them struck. One of my goals in the next significant purchase is to get a really nice Pine Tree example. A lot of my collection pursuits purtain to my family history - and having ancestors that settled in Massachusetts-Bay in the 17th century I feel the need to satiate that interest.

BillJones · March 28, 2012 5:27AM

<< <i>Super coin! What does she grade? >>

"She" is a PCGS AU-55. This 6 pence is also an AU-55, and think that this piece is my best preserved piece of Mass. silver.

The thing I really like about Massachusetts silver is that it was so successful. John Hull and Robert Sanderson produced these coins for at least 30 years (1652 to 1682), and they saw a lot of use. There were even pictures of them in 19th century books that banks used to identify coins with which they might come in contact during their course of business. I have no doubt that there were varieties of these coins that were used to senility and then melted. What we have available to us as collectors today is only a small fraction of the original mintage.

The Spanish empire issued the most successful coinage in the Americas by far, but within what would become The United States, the Massachusetts silver coins were the longest running, most successful issue until the U.S. mint opened in 1793.

kaz · March 28, 2012 5:48AM

beautiful examples, Bill, and useful history, as always.

Weiss · March 28, 2012 5:50AM

AU-55 AND green beaned, I believe?

http://www.coinraritiesonline.com/index.php?page=search&task=det_pl&offset=0&gal_id=1&PHPSESSID=gr1v84i60nkamca987d3vp9de2

BillJones · March 28, 2012 5:54AM

<< <i>AU-55 AND green beaned, I believe?

http://www.coinraritiesonline.com/index.php?page=search&task=det_pl&offset=0&gal_id=1&PHPSESSID=gr1v84i60nkamca987d3vp9de2 >>

Yes the 3 pence is "green beaned"; the 6 pence is not; but I don't think it would have any trouble getting a green bean if I sent it in.

jmski52 · March 28, 2012 5:58AM

Fabulous set of Mass. Silver, Bill!

mbogoman · March 28, 2012 9:00AM

Most excellent!!!

I, too, have started building a Mass. silver set. It didn't start out that way, but after I got my first, I had to have more. I will be sticking with the Pine Tree issues (for now!) - I've got the threepence and a small planchet shilling, need a six and a large planchet...alas, my examples saw a bit more commerce than your beauties...