Learn About the Four Kinds of Massachusetts Silver Coins
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in December of 1620. They were from England and many brought English coinage with them. That coinage was much sought-after for all types of business transactions. But after a couple of decades some of the coinage was lost or stolen or just simply worn out.
The trading with the indigenous peoples was not done by coinage but by wampum – shall polished shells strung together. But as more European settlers came to the ‘New World,’ there was a need for coinage. The Massachusetts General Court sought to have a coinage struck for use in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There was a mint in Boston and the mintmaster, John Hull, was eager to strike the authorized coinage. Silver was available in a number of the West Indies islands, especially Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica. So in 1652, the Court ordered a coinage struck and over the next 30 years four slightly different types of Massachusetts coins were struck. All of the coins were denominated using the English Pound.
- The “New England” coinage;
- The “Willow Tree” coinage;
- The “Oak Tree” coinage;
- The “Pine Tree” coinage.
The New England coinage was struck without dates and is the essence of simplicity. The mint struck three different denominations of New England coinage – Three Pence, Six Pence and a Shilling. The Three Pence is unique; the Six Pence has a known mintage of 8 specimens and the Shilling has about 40 known examples.
The obverse of the coin is small “NE” in script lettering and the reverse has the denomination “III”, “VI” or “XII” in a block punched into the silver planchet.
The punches were offset so a punch on the obverse didn’t obliterate the punch on the reverse and vice versa. The authorizing legislation called for the coins to be square in shape but that was not followed and changed in subsequent legislation.
The coins were only struck for about three months in 1652 and so few were struck that they only had a minor impact on the need for coinage.
The Willow Tree coinage was struck between the waning months of 1652 and the end of 1662. It had a much more elaborate design, although simplistic when compared to modern coinage. The simplicity of the prior New England design inspired counterfeiters so a recognizable design was required.
The obverse of the coin had a beaded circle in the center of the coin. Inside the beaded circle was the design of a Willow Tree. Outside of the beaded circle was the word “MASSACHVSETTS” with the Roman Capital “V” representing the letter “U”.
The reverse of the coin also has a beaded inner circle and inside of it is the date “1652” and the denomination “XII,” “VI”, or “III”. The outer periphery is stamped with “NEW ENGLAND AN DOM” (ANNO DOMINI) in the year of our Lord.
As the dies were all individually created, numerous die varieties are discernable and available. Some 80 to 100 examples of all denominations are known.
The Oak Tree coinage was struck between 1662 and 1667. The design is exactly the same as that of the Willow Tree coinage except that the tree was changed to now represent an oak tree, which was in abundance all across New England and Massachusetts. As many as several hundred coins of this type are known to exist.
The Oak Tree coinage added a new denomination to the fold. Now the Oak Tree coins were struck in Two Pence, Three Pence, Six Pence and Shilling denominations. All coins continue to bear the 1652 date.
By 1667, it was once again time to strike a new coinage for Massachusetts. Mintmaster Hull designed another new type of coin, this one bearing the Pine Tree, the same tree that was depicted on the Massachusetts state flag at that time. Hull also struck the Pine Tree coinage back in the three original denominations – Three Pence, Six Pence and Shilling. Again the coins were exactly the same except for the depiction of the tree. The coins were struck in both large and small planchet varieties as a common way of checking for silver content was to take a “sliver” of the edge. This was done repeatedly by so many merchants that the coins are often a fraction of how they began life in Massachusetts. These coins are the only really collectible Massachusetts silver coinage due to the hundreds of specimens that exist. The coins circulated across North America and throughout the Caribbean for decades.
| Date | Type | Mintage | VG Value | AU Value |
| (1652) | NE Three Pence | 1 | Priceless | Priceless |
| (1652) | NE Six Pence | 8 | $100,000 | $700,000 |
| (1652) | NE Shilling | 30 | $85,000 | $300,000 |
| 1652 | Willow Tree 3 Pence | 3 | Priceless | Priceless |
| 1652 | Willow Tree 6 Pence | 14 | $35,000 | $250,000 |
| 1652 | Willow Tree Shilling | 40-50 | $35,000 | $165,000 |
| 1652 | Oak Tree 2 Pence | 50 | $1,000 | $7,500 |
| 1652 | Oak Tree 3 Pence | 60 | $1,500 | $18,000 |
| 1652 | Oak Tree 6 Pence | 60-80 | $1,500 | $15,000 |
| 1652 | Oak Tree Shilling | 125 | $1,250 | $14,000 |
| 1652 | Pine Tree 3 Pence | 175-200 | $1,000 | $9,000 |
| 1652 | Pine Tree 6 Pence | 200 | $1,500 | $12,500 |
| 1652 | Pine Tree Shilling Lg | 250-400 | $1,400 | $13,500 |
| 1652 | Pine Tree Shilling Sm | 350-500 | $1,000 | $8,500 |
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