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1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Sixpence. N.1-A, Cr.7, W.6. R-6+. 36

From Stack's October 2005 New York Auction, Session 1 on Oct 18, 2005

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Categories  •  Stack's October 2005 New York The John J. Ford, Jr. Collection of Massachusetts Silver Coins 1652 Willow Tree Coins Willow Tree Sixpences Noe 1-A Willow Tree Sixpence. Crosby 7
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1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Sixpence. N.1-A, Cr.7, W.6. R-6+. 36. 2 gns. Essentially...1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Sixpence. N.1-A, Cr.7, W.6. R-6+. 36. 2 gns. Essentially Uncirculated. The Noe Census #1 Coin. The Noe Plate Coin. The Noe Enlargement Coin. The Wurtzbach Plate Coin. Magnificent condition for a Sixpence or for any Willow type coin for that matter and the finest seen. In a word, superb. The piece is sharper than any other seen and while the legends are a bit jumbled, almost all the letters are on the flan somewhere and when added together create complete legends. The obverse and reverse are both a nice rich coin silver gray with some pale rose and iridescent blue-green shades of iridescence. The tree is complete, sharp, and shows some trunk detail and a complete root structure. The guide-dot in the center of the tree can still be seen clearly. The inner beaded border is complete if a little jumbled at lower right and the letters around are mostly sharp and clear. Die polishing marks can be seen around some of the letters in the legend, a testament to the remarkable state of preservation of the piece. On the reverse the date is soft on the third and entirely obscured on the fourth numeral but the denomination is clear even if the second letter is a bit soft. The legend around is very jumbled and the piece was clearly run through the rocker press at least twice.

Overall, the planchet is nearly fully round when viewed from the obverse, a little off center to the left and slightly oval when viewed from the back. There are essentially no marks or defects that require mention. Accompanied by an old collector's ticket annotated on one side ''From famous W.S. Lincoln collection London'' and on the other ''Willow Tree Sixpence Superlative Gem Unique Variety Utmost Rarity.'' There is some confusion in the Noe book between this piece and the specimen he lists as Number 10 (next lot). Noe wrote that his Number 10 was ''Described as unpublished and unique'' but that characterization properly belonged to his Number 1 as we can see from the note that accompanies it here. Rare: the cataloguer has traced 13 of these. There are certainly a few more out there. There are a series of AU's known on this denomination including the Stearns and Garrett coins (curiously like the N.I-A shilling that also comes very nice). Norweb's was graded VF as was the one Kagin sold in August, 1987. The holed VF that showed up in the March, 1996 B&M auction is now in the National Numismatic Collection by donation. Roper's was called Fine. There was no Willow Sixpence in the Hain, MHS (1970), Oechsner, or NN 48th, 59th, and 60th sales.

Described by Breen in part as ''Sixpence. Noe 1 (W-6). About Unc., of probably 10-12 Willow Sixpences known this is either the finest or 2nd finest. Ex Wurtzbach, 1938, and Lincoln Coll., London, 1935, No.148. Excessively rare condition for a Willow Tree coin of any denomination; twice as rare as a Shilling in terms of number known, ten or twenty times as rarely offered. Newcomer paid $1250 for his Ex.Fine example (Noe 4), and this is far finer than his.'' Even given their size they were a well laid out and executed pair of dies. All Sixpences were from the same die pair which stayed fresh throughout what must have been a short life. The letters on both sides are fairly uniform in height and spacing. The obverse and reverse legends both begin on the upper right as expected. The tree is decently shaped if a bit crude in style. The date numerals are a bit clumsy and not well spaced; those in the denomination are better.

Provenance as stated.

Lot # 10 Session 1
Hammer Price: $220,000.00

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Click to open a larger image - 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Sixpence. N.1-A, Cr.7, W.6. R-6+. 36. 2 gns. Essentially... Click to open a larger image - 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Sixpence. N.1-A, Cr.7, W.6. R-6+. 36. 2 gns. Essentially...

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