A gem 1652 Pine Tree Shilling is valued at upwards of $120,000 ahead of a sale at Heritage Auctions.
The lot will cross the block during the June 8-11 Long Beach Expo.
The coin is the finest example of this celebrated issue known.
The 1652 shilling is one of the first coins to be minted in America
While not particularly rare, the issue is among the first coins to be produced in America. Prior to its introduction, settlers at the Massachusetts Bay colony had relied on British and European currency.
While it’s dated 1652 this doesn’t correlate to its actual year of production. All of the coins minted in the colony between 1652 and 1675 have the same date.
This was to comply with an English law outlawing production of currency in its colonies after 1652.
Heritage comments: “The planchet is nearly round and virtually all of the letters are boldly struck...
“The tree is exceptionally sharp with no areas of weakness.
“[Renowned coin collector] Carl Wurtzbach, who once owned this specimen, described it succinctly: ‘Gem Coin. Cannot Be Excelled.’ We feel that his description accurately represents this stellar coin.”
The coin last sold for $76,375 at Stack’s Bowers in 2013, a sum it will almost certainly beat.
The sale will also feature a Kellogg & Humbert gold ingot recovered from the wreck of the SS Central America. Get the full story here.
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