 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Oak Tree Threepence. N.26, Cr.4-A2, W.31. R-7. 15.3 gns. Extremely Fine. An outstanding specimen. The Noe Plate Coin. The Wurtzbach Plate Coin. One of the two finest seen, the other being the June 1979 Merkin sale specimen also graded EF. Much nicer than either the Hain or Norweb coins, the only others of this variety seen. The obverse is a light gray in color while the reverse is a darker shade of gray with lighter highlights on the letters and central devices. On the obverse the tree is fairly full and mostly legible although its trunk is soft, but the shrub on the right is clear. The peripheral legend is soft along almost the entire left side but sharp on the right (due almost entirely to the state of the die).
On the reverse the central denomination and date are clear and bold while the letters in NEW are fading at their tops due to the advanced state of the die. There are scrape marks through the top of the second N on the reverse and on the rim near that letter which are old and may well have been mint-made. An instructive piece because it appears to show planchet cutter lips on both sides of the flan which of course would be impossible in a coin cut out of strip by shears. This observation underscores the difficulty in interpreting numismatic evidence on coins such as these in the absence of any documentary evidence of how exactly they were made. Very rare: there may be fewer than nine or ten of these in existence. There was no N.26 in the 1991 ANS Exhibition. Breen wrote that he felt this was ''RRRRR. Only two or three known at time of publication, all of them very poorly preserved.''
Ex Carl Wurtzbach, T. James Clarke, F.C.C. Boyd Collections.
| |
|
