1652 Oak Tree Sixpence. Noe-17, Salmon 4-X, W-370. Rarity-6+. IN on Obverse, Hydra Tree. EF-40 (PCGS).
39.0 grains. From our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the legendary Norweb Collection, where this piece was described as: N-17, C 4-C. EF-40, possible the finest known. Rarity-7. 39.1 grains. 22.7 mm. 80 degrees (unlike any other Oak Tree sixpence, except N-18, equally as rare as N-17). The 'Hydra Tree' issue. Deep, attractive silver gray with pale golden highlights. Broad struck. Pronounced planchet cutter 'lip' visible around the upper and right portions of the reverse edge. Full tree. Obverse and reverse legends full, save where obliterated by the first clashing of the dies. Full punctuation, composed of colons. Letters thin and spidery in appearance. Trunk of tree shows clear crosshatching; branches show delicate feathery detail. Remnants of an earlier inner beaded circle to the left of the tree and closer to it. Finer than any other specimen of N-17 we have traced. Rarity rating should be adjusted from Rarity-7+ to a straight Rarity-7, as we have traced seven specimens. Nevertheless, one of the rarest of the Oak Tree sixpences, unrepresented in the Garrett, Roper, or Picker Collection sales. V and left portion of neighboring S on the obverse; and right portion of L, left portion of neighboring A and adjacent N very soft, due to severe die clashing suffered early in the life of the dies. This specimen represents an early state of these dies. A later state, characterized as 'N-17.5' was described in New Netherlands 60th sale, Lot 200. Apparently, the dies clashed a second time after they had been reworked to restore details suffered in the first clashing. This present specimen shows the dies before reworking. We have traced the following specimens of N-17, the 'Hydra Tree' sixpence: 1. Noe plate coin 2. The Norweb specimen. 3-5. Stearns sale, Lots 58, 59, and 60. 6. New Netherlands 60th Sale: 200, "N-17.5," later to Vlack. 7. M.H.S. Collection Sale (1970): 8, to the ANS. 8. The specimen plated in the 18th edition of The Standard Catalogue of United States Coins. To the eight specimens enumerated in 1987, we can add several additional examples: the Mitchelson coin in the Museum of Connecticut History, a low grade piece sold in Heritage's April 2002 sale, a holed specimen in our (Stack's) March 2010 offering of the Peter Scherff collection, a very nice example found by a metal detectorist in Massachusetts in 2013, a probable grounder offered as lot 3002 in Heritage's January 2015 FUN Signature Auction, another dug example that appeared in our Winter 2022 Auction, a quartet of low grade and/or damaged pieces in Heritage's March 2023 sale of Part IV of the Salmon Collection, and the superb Augustine Shurtleff coin in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The Hain sale also mentions "a Fine and a Good auctioned in the last 12 years," which are likely the Good sold in our (Bowers and Merena's) May 1997 sale (and later the 1997 C4 sale and reappearing as one of the aforementioned Salmon IV coins) and the Fine in our (Stack's) May 1989 sale. The 1970 MHS coin is now in the collection of the ANS. We can also subtract one: the Noe plate coin (i.e., the Boyd-Ford coin) is the same as the Standard Catalogue plate coin. With at least three impounded (ANS, BMFA, and Museum of Connecticut History), perhaps just a dozen to 15 remain for collectors, most of them problem pieces or at least in low grade. The Norweb-Kendall-Martin specimen offered here is only surpassed by the Ford coin among those privately held, and the difference between them is not vast. Among the coins listed in Norweb, one of the three Stearns coins resold in our (Stack's) 2002 Hain sale and then became the primary Salmon coin sold by Heritage in August 2022, the Noe Plate coin sold in our (Stack's) Ford sale of 2005 at $40,250, and the NN60 specimen resold in the aforementioned Heritage August 2022 sale as the secondary Salmon coin. None were in Reed Hawn (1998) or Partrick. Both sides have taken on a lovely overall golden tone atop the deep antique gray surfaces. Only the most trivial handling marks are seen, with the short vertical scratch near 6 o'clock on the obverse the only one that approaches being notable. The centering is ideal on both sides and the visual appeal is superb, rich with originality. Remarkably, the PCGS assigned grade is precisely identical to the grade assigned to this coin in 1987, when third party grading was in its infancy and no one would have dreamed of certifying a coin such as this. The exact origin and nature of this variety has been debated by numismatic scholars. Christopher J. Salmon sums up the debate when he writes: "The 4-X (Noe 17; Noe 17.1; Noe 17.5) and 5-X (Noe 18) Oak Tree sixpence varieties are also extremely problematic and appear to be counterfeits, though not all authorities agree with this conclusion." The varieties are related, for sure, since Noe-18 is a reworking of Noe-17, after the former moved through Noe-17.1 and 17.5 reworkings of its own. Elaborating further, our own John Kraljevich had this to write (regarding Noe-18) in his cataloging for our March 2015 sale of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation Collection: Salmon and some others have argued that this variety was not struck at Hull and Sanderson's mint, casting the same aspersion on Noe-15 and Noe-17. We find the identical weight standard, letter forms, striking methodology, die recutting methodology, depth of engraving and strike, and overall fabric to be powerful evidence to the contrary. While the issue may never be settled to everyone's satisfaction, the rarity of the attribution and the intrigue that surrounds it guarantees Noe-17 a place of prominence on the want lists of advanced Massachusetts silver collectors.
PCGS# 909045. NGC ID: 2ARJ.
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From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Norweb Collection, Part I, October 1987, lot 1175; our sale of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation Collection, March 2015 Baltimore Auction, lot 2340. Sydney F. Martin collector envelope with attribution notation included.

Estimate: $26000