Found on the Isle of Wight

Sale: Triton XII, Lot: 1107. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 5 January 2009.  Sold For $4250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNITED STATES, Colonial. Massachusetts Bay Colony. AR Oak Tree Two Pence (0.70 g, 12h). Dated 1662. MASTHVSETS I N •, oak tree on ground line with saplings / NEW ENGLAND (rosette of eight pellets), 1662/I I in two lines across field. Noe 30. VF, toned.

Found 19 December 2004 by a member of the Isle of Wight Metal Detecting Club in Brighstone Parish, Isle of Wight. Portable Antquity Scheme Reference No. IOW-D80EF7.

The Oak Tree twopence is the only Massachusetts silver to bear a date other than 1652. The obverse shows an oak tree between two saplings set on a double ground line. The centering point made by the compass in the die (for describing the circles used to align the beads) is visible on the main trunk at the intersection of the middle pair of branches. The first S in MASTHVSETS is unusual in that it is elongated and leans to the right.

Only one die pair for this coin is recorded. Noe traced six different stages in the life of the reverse die (subsequent studies have disclosed several intermediate die states). Our coin represents the second stage, where a die break extends the tail of the number 2 to the pelleted border. In addition, the die break of the A in ENGLAND, present to some degree throughout the use of the reverse die, is less noticeable on this coin, making it an earlier strike in the issue.