 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Oak Tree Shilling. N.13, Cr.8-F, W.18. R-6. 71.9 gns. Extremely Fine. The Wurtzbach Plate Coin. A second exceptional example of this rare variety. Even medium coin silver gray in color on both sides. Full tree, shrubs and roots. Letters in the legend around soft in places, this due principally to the advanced state of the die. Reverse somewhat sharp in the center, quite soft around the periphery from 7:00 to 2:30, as struck. Both sides nicely centered with almost all of the letters in the obverse legend fully on the flan. Short and sort of heartbreaking scratch on the obverse beside M running into the central field through the inner beaded border. Some older scratches visible in places on the reverse.
Described by Wurtzbach on his collector's ticket as ''A.H. Woods, Clapp, Wurtzbach. This variety is of the utmost rarity. Crosby never saw but one, and that too poor to properly describe. Mills had a beautiful specimen-Good-now in Col. Green. I owned the Ellsworth piece. Probably none better than this one.''
Ex A.H. Woods, Charles E. Clapp, Carl Wurtzbach, T. James Clarke, F.C.C. Boyd Collections.
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