 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Oak Tree Threepence. N.28, Cr.6-C. R-4. 17.4 gns. Fine/Very Fine. The obverse is light coin silver gray while the reverse is a more even and darker shade of the same color. On the front the tree looks very mushy below its center with only partial branches showing, no root structure evident and the trunk entirely missing. The peripheral letters in the legend around, even given the small size and odd shape of the flan, are legible only at the top where SATVS can be seen.
The reverse, by contrast, is about perfectly centered, almost entirely on the flan, and was sharply struck. This piece was coined from very late states of the dies. The die has failed almost entirely from its lower half down to the rim leaving no letters available to be impressed onto a planchet and only a partial tree. On the reverse the die has broken through A from the left ascender of that letter arcing up through the right, ending at the rim almost equidistant between A and neighboring N. These states appear to be undescribed and may be of interest to the specialist in the series.
Ex F.C.C. Boyd Collection.
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