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1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Shilling. N.3-D, Cr.3a-D. R-7. 69

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 Shillings Noe 3-D Willow Tree Shilling. Crosby 3-D.
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1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Shilling. N.3-D, Cr.3a-D. R-7. 69. 5 gns. Choice Extremely...1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Shilling. N.3-D, Cr.3a-D. R-7. 69. 5 gns. Choice Extremely Fine. The Noe Census #16 Coin. The Noe Plate Coin. The Noe Enlargement Coin. The 1914 ANS Exhibition Coin (Wurtzbach loan). A really remarkable Willow Tree Shilling in almost every respect. Both sides are toned in a rich coin silver gray with iridescent blue and pale rose-green, colors more typical of a small planchet Pine than a Willow Tree piece. In addition the planchet is nearly perfectly round and the obverse and reverse legends look almost as if they have been deliberately placed perfectly on the flan within their beaded borders to create a near perfectly made Willow Tree Shilling. Is it possible that mintmasters Hull and Sanderson, recognizing the fairly unprepossessing appearance of most of their Willow Shillings, set out to make one that they could all be very proud of? On the obverse the tree is essentially complete save for some light softness at the upper left. The peripheral legend is nearly complete, soft in places but only a small amount of imagination is needed to fill them in. On the reverse the date is soft at the right but still legible, the denomination is complete, and the legend around, although jumbled, is still essentially fully legible. The piece has its inner and outer beaded borders nearly complete, particularly on the back, and the planchet overall is nicely round and clearly was made to look that way. There are just a couple of light marks, one small dig in the upper left tree branches, but these really pale into insignificance compared to the numismatic importance of this piece.

Described by Breen as ''Noe 16 (3-D); only six known. Fine or better, all but 2 or 3 letters of inscription legible; much better than it appears in Noe's illustration (Plate V and Enl. Pl. XI). Ex Wurtzbach (1938), Brand estate (1937), Wurtzbach (1911) and S.H. Chapman, who purchased it in England. Ill. Plate 1, ANS 1914 Exhibition. Said by its former owner to be one of the 3 finest known, but we will be conservative and say that we know only three or four distinctly better-looking examples.'' Very rare: the cataloguer has seen only nine of these N.3-Ds with the finest of them all still the Hain-Norweb coin. Stearns, Garrett, Roper, Norweb, Oechsner, and the NN trio (48th, 59th and 60th sales) all lacked an N.3-D. These are skillfully engraved dies by a careful hand, the unnecessarily large date and denominational numerals on the reverse the only jarring note in the overall layout. This was plated in ANS 1914 loaned by Wurtzbach but was not on the 1937 Wurtzbach plates, so must have been one of the pieces Mr. W. sold to Brand before 1920.

Ex S.H. Chapman, Carl Wurtzbach, Virgil Brand, Carl Wurtzbach, T. James Clarke, F.C.C. Boyd Collections.

Lot # 8 Session 1
Hammer Price: $160,000.00

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Click to open a larger image - 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Shilling. N.3-D, Cr.3a-D. R-7. 69. 5 gns. Choice Extremely... Click to open a larger image - 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony. Willow Tree Shilling. N.3-D, Cr.3a-D. R-7. 69. 5 gns. Choice Extremely...

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