Massachusetts Bay Colony
From the Partrick, Clarke & Wurtzbach Collections
Exhibitied at the ANS in 1942
UNITED STATES, Colonial & Related. Autonomous British issues. Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1652-1682. AR Threepence (18mm, 1.09 g, 11h). John Hull’s (Boston) mint. Dated 1652, struck 1667-1674. (rosette) MASATHUSETS, pine tree / (rosette) NEW ENGLAND, 1652/ III (denomination) in two lines. Whitman W-640; Salmon 2-B; Noe 36; Crosby 2A-B; Breen 50 (this coin illustrated). Choice EF, toned.
Ex Donald G. Patrtrick Collection; T. James Clarke Collection, exhibited at the ANS in 1942, no. 176; Carl Wurtzbach Collection, no. 70; John H. Clapp Collection.
The English crown was never particularly concerned with supplying the American colonists with coinage. Early settlers in New England had to make due with bartered goods, Native American wampum, and whatever scraps of coinage trickled up from the Spanish territories to the far south. Such a situation was untenable for the booming markets of Boston, yet coinage was considered a royal prerogative, and without permission of the monarch the colonial officials were hamstrung. In 1652, with the dissolution of the monarchy and the establishment of the Commonwealth of England, officials in Boston were at last free to take matters into their own hands.
On 26-27 May 1652, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony authorized the creation of a mint to strike silver shillings, sixpence, and threepence. These represent the earliest coinage struck in what is today the United States. Four separate issues were struck: the NE issues, crude types bearing only the letters NE and the denomination; the Willow Tree issues, with a willow tree for the obverse type; the Oak Tree issues, with an oak; and the Pine Tree issues, with a pine tree. These series were struck over a number of years, until the mintmasters’ contracts expired in 1682. All coins bear a fixed date of 1652, the date of authorization. Early collectors believed that this date was used to deceive English officials into believing the series was only struck during the Commonwealth, though this seems highly unlikely, as documentary evidence clearly demonstrates that the monarchy was well aware of New England’s silver coinage.
