 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Oak Tree Shilling. N.2, Cr.9-I, W.21. R-7. 70. 0 gns. Uncirculated. The Noe Plate Coin. The Wurtzbach Plate Coin. The finest seen of this rare variety, the only one with a rosette in the reverse legend. Deep gray in color on both sides, the shade nearly uniform with some light touches of iridescent blue and pale rose on the back. Decent central sharpness on both sides, the softness in the letters in the legend on the right on the obverse and left on the reverse, as well as the slight softness on the trunk of the tree on the obverse, is due entirely to the die alignment. Just about perfectly centered on both sides, the obverse a little off to the right but without real material effect. Small edge fissure at about 6:15 on the obverse mirrored in the same position on the reverse.
Described on Wurtzbach's collector's ticket as ''Uncirculated. Small cleft. Excessively rare always unique in this condition. Another grand prize. Crosby's 1883- good. Clapp to CW Very good. Probably same piece. This one from Virgil Brand Collection to Carl Wurtzbach 1936''. As the cataloguer noted in the Hain Family sale, this is the best struck of all the handful of Noe 2's seen. There are only about 8 to 10 of these known. The nearest competitor to this coin is the Stearns piece that was graded Choice EF in that 1966 sale. The Norweb coin was softly struck as usual and the Hain specimen was a holed and buffed technical VF. Roper had a VF and NN's 59th and 60th sale specimens were also VF. Oechsner and Garrett and Picker did not have one nor was there one in the 1970 MHS sale.
Described by Breen as ''R-6. Ex. Fine or better (bought as Unc.); bent slightly and tiny cleft in planchet which probably was done at the Mint (we have seen Uncirculated half cents with similar defects). Rim die break over NE. Exceptionally choice, the finest of the three specimens known. Ex Wurtzbach, Brand.'' The obverse is the same as seen on N.1. The reverse is different but was not made very well for it failed fairly soon after mounting in the press. The die state progressions of N.1 and N.2 show that the obverse (Crosby 9) and both reverses (Crosby H and I) were ''on the shelf'' and available for use at the same time.
Since the above was written, a new and highly important Noe 2 has been acquired by Alan Weinberg. Grading Extremely Fine, it is struck on a jumbo flan that is wide enough to show the straight outlines of the left and right obverse die edges beyond the outer beaded border. These outlines are either very faint or non-existent on other Noe 2's (although they usually show on Noe 3's, which share the same obverse die, Crosby 9). The Weinberg coin first appeared in a May, 2005 European auction catalogued as a ''Pine Tree Shilling.'' It was bought by an Austrian coin dealer who sold it to Weinberg at the 2005 ANA Convention.
Ex Virgil Brand, Carl Wurtzbach, T. James Clarke, F.C.C. Boyd Collections.
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