Cliff notes - Early Massachusetts Silver

[Jazzy]

Commodity money and wampum had been used for commerce since the beginning of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. The inadaquate nature of this currency eventually led to a desperate need for coinage.

 

The General Court commissioned John Hull to mint coins. Massachusetts Silver became popular throughout the new American colonies, as far south as Bermuda. No records were kept of mintage numbers, but they must have been enormous, for the the time.

 

The pieces include the NE coinage, Oak Tree, Willow Tree, and Pine Tree issues.

 

The Mass Bay Colony was not in fact allowed to issue coinage, but with the beheading of Charles I and the subsequent interregnum of Oliver Cromwell's rule, the General Court decided to take matters into their own hands. Even after the reinstitution of monarchy with Charles II, the Mass Bay Colony managed to coin their own currency owing to a program of elaborate and generous bribes.

 

Here is a piece worth looking at, with a provenance that reads like a "Who's Who" of famous numismatists. On sale now at ANR for a cool 22.5K.

 

 

[zrlevin]

Picture no workey

 

EDIT: Never mind it workey now

[Jazzy]

SHIPWRECK...

 

In 1984, a private group conducted salvage operations on the Feversham, a ship which set sail from New York on 17 September, 1711, and sunk in the St. Lawerence River. The Mass. Silver coins brought up from the wreck were assessed by QDB, and were catalogued as follows:

 

--1 NE shilling

--4 Willow Tree shillings

--35 Oak Tree shillings

--1 Oak Tree sixpence

--75 Pine Tree shillings

--1 Pine Tree sixpence

--9 cut pieces (used as small change)

[IGWT]

I, too, saw that coin at ANR. Want to go halvesies?

[Jazzy]

I, too, saw that coin at ANR. Want to go halvesies?

 

I'd take you up on that, IGWT, but I don't think the legal paperwork would be worth the fuss.

 

Here's my personal experience with the coin: I recently visited a unnamed dealership that specializes in colonials. I looked at several Pine Tree shillings, the best of which graded a Fine. The owner was asking $4200 which was WAY too much for the grade. I offered him $2500 - and he accepted!

 

Then I told him that I would only buy the coin if he had it authenticated by NGC or PCGS - and he politely declined.

 

After that, we got into a complicated discussion of how much TPG graders actually know about colonials yadda yadda yadda...

 

And then he told me how difficult it would be to counterfeit such a coin!

 

Needless to say, I have yet to own one.

[Hoot]

Sweet coin with a great history. I'd love to own one, but would be very cautious of fakes.

 

Hoot

[EZ_E]

Great post, Jazzy! Very interesting. The shipwreck info was a bonus!

[TomB]

If I recall correctly, the minting officials struck these coins many decades past the date listed on them in order to attempt to pass them off as pieces struck during the Cromwell interlude so as to avoid charges of counterfeiting.

[Jazzy]

If I recall correctly, the minting officials struck these coins many decades past the date listed on them in order to attempt to pass them off as pieces struck during the Cromwell interlude so as to avoid charges of counterfeiting.

 

Yes.

 

The "minting officials", if you want to call them that was the Massachusetts General Court.

 

"Counterfeiting", however, did not have the same connotation as it does today.

 

The minting of coins was considered a royal priviledge. The Massachusetts General Court took advantage of the Cromwell interregnum to produce their own original coinage, which was desperately needed throughout the colonies.

 

The coins were extensively minted over a period of about 20 years, all with the date 1652, in order to circumvent the royal priviledge.