1652 Pine Tree Shilling. Small Planchet. Noe-21, Salmon 7-B, W-865. Rarity-7+. Fine-15 (PCGS).
68.5 grains. Missing from every major sale of Massachusetts silver between the 1966 Stearns sale and our March 2015 offering of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation Collection, including the nearly complete offerings in our (Stack's) Hain and Ford sales. Not surprising, since we can account for just four specimens, one of which is impounded: 1 - The Noe Plate coin. American Numismatic Society Collection. 2 - The Crosby Plate coin, and also plated in the Whitman colonial coin Encyclopedia, and in Noe as "21A". Ex Mayflower's sale of the C.H. Stearns Collection, December 1966, lot 107; Heritage's sale of the Christopher J. Salmon Collection, August 2022 Signature Auction, lot 3332. 3 - Ex Mayflower's sale of the C.H. Stearns Collection, December 1966, lot 108; Heritage's sale of the Christopher J. Salmon Collection, Part II, October 2022 Long Beach Signature Auction, lot 3484. 4 - The present specimen, provenance provided below. Among these, the ANS specimen is the finest. The surfaces are not particularly nice on either of the Stearns coins and, indeed, they were certified EF Details--Environmental Damage and simply Plugged and Clipped, respectively, by NGC for Heritage's two Salmon Collection sales. This variety is not present in the Lasser Collection at Colonial Williamsburg, which includes 81 pieces representing 70 different Noe varieties. This variety was also missing from every major sale of Massachusetts silver cited elsewhere in this catalog except for the Stearns sale. Name the collection, and it lacked a Noe-21. The present specimen happens to be choice, with glossy light silver-gray surfaces showing attractive golden toning. The obverse is nearly ideally centered, with the denticles at the right side nearly entirely off the planchet while those at left are complete. The reverse is notably aligned to 6 o'clock. Some faint hairlines may be seen with proper scrutiny, scattered trivial marks, a few light pin scratches above the letter W in NEW on reverse. The obverse die, used only on this variety, is badly broken, with a large internal cud under the tree ground, extending to the rim below the first letter A in MASATHVSETS. Swelling extends vertically up the left side of the tree, also seen on the Stearns:107 coin, but not to this extent. Each letter of VSET is boldly recut, resembling a modern doubled die in appearance. The reverse, the same die used on Noe-16 through 22, is broken at 6 o'clock, above the E in NEW, and outside the denticles above the A in ENGLAND. There are very few coins that would have improved the collections of Mrs. Norweb, Fred Boyd, John Ford, and Joe Lasser. This is one that none of them ever owned and each of them would have coveted.
PCGS# 914821. NGC ID: 2ARZ.
To view supplemental information and all items from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, click here.
From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Ruddy's) sale of the Robert C. Hall Estate, October 1978, lot 3, via Lester Merkin, to the following; our sale of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation Collection, March 2015 Baltimore Auction, lot 2404. Kendall and Sydney F. Martin collector envelopes with attribution notes included.

Estimate: $16500