1652 Oak Tree Shilling. Noe-8, Salmon 6-E, W-490. Rarity-7. IN at Bottom. AU-50 (PCGS).71.1 grains. A simply spectacular rarity from the Oak Tree series offering unrivaled surface preservation. Considerable iridescent mint lustre blankets each side, remaining particularly dense across the reverse. Struck from a quite late die state with reduced sharpness in places, though the tree remains full and the denomination is impressively sharp. This die failure obscures the upper portion of each side, removing the tops of the inner circles and much of the upper legends. The obverse is slightly drawn to 6 oclock but the reverse is ideally centered. A trivial waviness is see to the planchet though there is no uneven wear to be noted. <p><p><p>The Noe-8 variety is characterized by the location of the word IN at the bottom on the obverse with the diagnostic short but very wide M in MASATHVSETS, possibly indicating an engraver not previously seen on earlier Oak Tree coins. It is a remarkably rare variety that was missing from several important collections including Garrett, Roper, Oechsner, and Picker. In the 1930s, Carl Wurtzbach knew of only two examples, including his prized specimen from Virgil Brand that was later added to the vast Boyd-Ford holdings. <p>This piece was the very finest of the six(!) examples featured in the 1966 Stearns sale, where it was plated in lot 34 and called "a handsome, uncirculated specimen." It is exceptionally preserved for the variety, ranking finer than the Hain-Partrick and Kendall specimens by a wide margin. It is numerically tied for finest known with the Boyd-Ford specimen at AU-50 (PCGS), though this one is clearly superior out of a holder.From the Robert M. Martin Collection. Ex Mayflower Coin Auctions sale of the C.H. Stearns Collection, December 1966, lot 34; our (American Numismatic Rarities) sale of September 2006, lot 3; Heritages sale of the Deb-Ann Collection, January 2009, lot 3534; our (Bowers and Merenas) sale of March 2010, lot 38.
