LOT #3249 |
Sold on Aug 22, 2022 for: Sign-in
or Join (free & quick)
1652 Willow Tree Shilling, Salmon 3-E -- Obverse Tooled -- NGC Details. VF. Noe 3-E, W-200, R.7. ...
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Sold on Aug 22, 2022 for:
Sign-in
or Join (free & quick)
Description
Salmon 3-E Willow Tree Shilling
Ex: Stearns
The Palmetto Tree Variety
1652 Willow Tree Shilling, Salmon 3-E -- Obverse Tooled -- NGC
Details. VF. Noe 3-E, W-200, R.7. 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 travelling 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 35 of the 2023 Guide Book.
Ex: C.H. Stearns Collection (Mayflower, 12/1966), lot 11, to an absentee bidder.
From The Christopher J. Salmon Collection.
View all of [The Christopher J. Salmon Collection, Part I ]
Auction Info
2022 August 22 - 28 US Coins Signature® Auction #1348 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
August, 2022
22nd-28th
Monday-Sunday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 26
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 616
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
20% of the successful bid per lot.
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms | US & World Coin Grading Tutorial
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms | US & World Coin Grading Tutorial