1662 Oak Tree Twopence. Noe-34, Salmon 1-B, W-240. Rarity-5. Large 2. VF Details--Chopmark (PCGS).

A most unusual example of the type, the PCGS qualifier refers to a prominent letter D punched into the center of the obverse. This is much larger than the D that William Forrester Dunham punched into cloud 7 on the reverse of his Class I 1804 silver dollar (as well as several Hard Times tokens in his collection), and given how prominent it is we think it unlikely that the D on this coin was applied by another numismatist. While the counterstamp interferes with some of the finer detail in the tree, this is otherwise a boldly defined and visually appealing example, evenly toned in lighter pewter-gray. Wear is moderate, most noticeable at the right obverse and reverse borders, where only partial definition remains. The planchet is cracked from the centers to lower borders, seemingly from the counterstamp. We have offered one other counterstamped Noe-34 Oak Tree twopence in recent years, the Ford XXIII:21728 coin, which had the initials ELH applied twice on the reverse. While the ELH is potentially a collector's mark like Dunham's D, both that mark and the present D are enigmatic and clearly warrant further study.

PCGS# 45356. NGC ID: 2ARE.

From the Muddy River Collection.