Beautiful
1652 Pine Tree Shilling PCGS MS61 CAC - $32,500.
1652
Pine Tree Shilling PCGS MS61 CAC. Large Planchet,
No PELLETS, Noe-3, Rarirty-6.
Please contact me by email
or telephone 1-941-291-2156
to reserve the coins you would like to purchase.
The Pine Tree coins
were originally called “Boston” or “Bay
Shillings.” Numerous varieties exist because
the period of production was extended from 1662 to
1682. During this time the handmade dies wore out
or broke easily, requiring constant replacement. In
order to keep money in the colony, a law was passed
in 1654 prohibiting exportation of more than twenty
shillings upon penalty of total forfeiture. This law
was needed because Massachusetts colonists traded
with people of other colonies, and the coinage was
constantly being depleted.
There were two types
of Pine Tree issues the large and small. The coins
were all dated 1652, when the Puritans took power
from the English Royalists. Minted in quantity, the
Large Shillings include AN DOM in the reverse legend.
The Small Shillings use AN DO instead. There are numerous
varieties because die steel was not readily available,
and dies had to be reused.
With the monarchy
restored, the colony continued to mint coins, an act
of treason. To ameliorate this situation, Massachusetts
Puritans sent King Charles II presents, one of which
was a shipload of masts for the Royal Navy. Even using
the 1652 date could not hide evidence of coinage in
the colonies after the Restoration. Political gifts
were given from time to time to the King and to the
Massachusetts government by the mint masters and by
the Court to the King. For example in 1667 the mint
masters paid the public treasury forty pounds and
ten pounds for the next seven years, and in 1677:
“It is ordered that the Treasurere doe forthwith
prouide ten barrels of Cranburyes, two hogsheads of
speciall Good Sampe, and three thousand of Cod fish,
to be sent to our messengers, by them to be presented
to his Majesty as a present from this Court.
Many Pine Tree coins
show teeth marks and evidence of bending, souvenirs
of the Salem witchcraft problems of 1692. A bent coin
would ward off witches’ spells. The smaller
shillings were not bent as often as the large ones
because they were made from thicker flans and could
not be bent easily. However, they were often counterfeited,
shaved, and clipped.
After 1675 coinage
consisted of Small Pine Tree Shillings, which were
still dated 1652. Mintages were immense because the
colonists realized that the Crown would soon prohibit
any coins being minted in the colonies. In 1684, King
James II revoked the charter of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony. A police state was established in the
province. Later a new governor was sent by the authorities
to restore the conditions that existed prior to 1652.
Sir Edmond Andros was the individual sent by the King.
He went to Hartford, Connecticut and tried to seize
the colony’s charter, but it was hidden in a
tree. It became known as the Charter Oak, which is
pictured on the Connecticut State Quarter of 1999.
When James II was ousted, Andros was shipped back
to England.
Although the Pine
Tree Shillings were replaced by paper currency that
became severely devalued, the Pine Tree coinage remained
the preferred means of exchange along with Mexican
dollars.
The coins of Massachusetts
show the beginning of a tradition of opposition to
interference by England in internal affairs of the
colonies. They represent the first step towards the
Boston Tea Party, the Sons of Liberty, and the Revolution
that would follow.
