LOT #3002 |
Current Bid: $775
1652 Willow Tree Shilling, Noe 3-E, W-200, Salmon 3-E, R.7 -- Obverse Tooled -- NGC Details. VF....
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Description
1652 Salmon 3-E Willow Tree Shilling
Ex: Stearns, VF Details
The Palmetto Tree Variety
1652 Willow Tree Shilling, Noe 3-E, W-200, Salmon 3-E, R.7 --
Obverse Tooled -- NGC Details. VF. 69.2 grains. Die
orientation: 320º. The idiosyncratic minting technique of the
Willow Tree coins often means that they are underestimated at first
glance. This mid-grade shilling, featuring faint obverse scratches
(rather than tooling) and the usual multiplicity of strike, is a
good example of this truism, as a thorough examination reveals a
well above-average tree and mostly complete obverse legend, coupled
with a reverse that is remarkably well-rendered, with a complete
and clear date and denomination and a legend that is only jumbled
by multiple striking in a couple of areas. The coloration is good
and fully original, with a light to medium gray patina. It is a
strong representative of this rare variety: indeed, it was called
the finest known in the 1966 Stearns sale.An example of this variety was found in the wreck of the H.B.M.S. Feversham, which sank off the coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia on October 7, 1711. The wreck was identified in 1996 and coins recovered from the vessel included 92 examples of Massachusetts silver. These included one NE shilling, four Willow Tree shillings, 27 Oak Tree shillings and 54 Pine Tree shillings, as well as two sixpence and several cut fractional pieces. Given the current rarity of the NE and Willow Tree types in relation to the Oak and Pine Tree types, the presence of these early pieces is surprising: it is difficult to believe that Willow Tree shillings could have possibly comprised 4.3% of the Massachusetts silver coins in circulation in 1711. In the absence of any reason to think that the coins on the Feversham were not a fair representation of Massachusetts silver in circulation at that time, we might wonder why the NE and Willow Tree types are not encountered as regularly in the marketplace today. The key here may be that the Feversham was traveling from Canada to New York when it sank. It was a Royal Navy vessel with no particular connection to Massachusetts. The coins had been outside of Massachusetts, where they may have served more as a store of value than as an actively circulating medium. They would not have as regularly changed hands, and there would have been no effort to weed old types out of circulation and replace them with newer types, as would have been likely within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Willow Tree type was first distinguished from the Oak Tree type based upon an example of this variety. W. Elliot Woodward, in compiling his Sixth Semi-Annual Sale of March 20-25, 1865, described an example from the collection of Alexander D. Bache:
"Oak Tree Shilling, 1652. The tree on this remarkable piece is quite unlike an oak, resembling more nearly a Palmetto tree. The legend on the obverse, is 'Masathset inn;' on the rev. New Glad Au Do Dom; probably unique."
The "Palmetto Tree" label did not stick around for long. In describing Joseph J. Mickley's collection two years later, Woodward noted (lot 2297) that it was "called by Mr. Mickley the Willow Tree Shilling," and that is the designation used ever since. The rarity of the type has been recognized ever since collectors started to pay attention to these pieces. As the Feversham statistics imply, however, they may originally have been made in somewhat larger quantities than their present scarcity suggests. Listed on page 8 of the 2026 Guide Book.
Ex: C.H. Stearns Collection (Mayflower, 12/1966), lot 11, to an absentee bidder; The Christopher J. Salmon Collection (Heritage, 8/2022), lot 3249.
Auction Info
2025 October 2 - 5 GACC US Coins Signature® Auction #1386 (go to Auction Home page)
Proxy Bidding Ends
October
2nd
Thursday
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October
2nd-5th
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