1652 Oak Tree Threepence. Noe-26, Salmon 4-Ai, W-290. Rarity-7. No IN on Obverse. AG Details--Damage (PCGS). 11.2 grains. A fleeting bidding opportunity for specialists in this series, this is a rare Noe number that also offers considerable challenges when it comes to surface quality and eye appeal among extant examples. The offered coin struggles in both areas, both sides well handled with portions of the design lost to uneven wear. The central obverse shows a decent tree, nonetheless, with more than enough detail to confirm the Noe-26 attribution. Three-quarters of the inner border on that side is clear, and two-thirds of the obverse legend is legible. On the reverse, the date and denomination are clear, and all peripheral letters are at least partially discernible apart from the final N, although the D that follows it is quite crisp. Die swell helps to explain the uneven wear, and there is a sharp, yet short crack in the planchet at 12 oclock. Curiously bright golden-gray surfaces from a cleaning, with several scratches in the centers that help to explain the PCGS qualifier.<p>Mike Hodder noted just four recorded examples of this Noe number: the Boyd-Ford coin, plated in Noe and Wurtzbach, which later became the primary Salmon coin and is also his plate; the Norweb coin; the Appleton-MHS-Hain coin (now impounded in the Lasser Collection at Colonial Williamsburg); and the Kendall coin, ex Lester Merkin on June 18, 1979. Another can be added courtesy of Andrew Pollocks extensive research - the George A. Merriweather specimen that sold as lot 154 in our (Bowers and Ruddys) November 1973 Rothert sale and later became one of the Salmon duplicates. A number of other low grade and/or impaired pieces have appeared at auction in recent years, including this one, a specimen dug in a garden in Hanover, Massachusetts that sold in our March 2015 Baltimore Auction, the Maurice Storck coin in Heritages October 2020 sale, and a second Salmon duplicate. The finest in private hands are the aforementioned Kendall specimen and another newcomer to the census, the Heritage January 2022:3147 coin, although the Norweb specimen also deserves consideration in this context. None were displayed at the 1991 ANS Exhibition. PCGS# 915747. NGC ID: 2ARF. <strong>To view supplemental information and all items from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, click<a href="https://stacksbowers.com/sydney-f-martin-collection/"target=’_blank’> here.</a></strong> From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Chris Stevens, via Tom Rinaldo, December 2008.
