Pine Tree Shilling

The Pine Tree Shilling is one of the earliest coins made in what became the United States. It was produced at the Boston mint in colonial Massachusetts and is part of the broader Massachusetts silver series that also includes the New England, Willow Tree, and Oak Tree coinages. The design seen here places a pine tree at the center of the obverse, encircled by the legend MASSACHUSETTS above and IN COLONY below, all within a beaded border.

Although the coins carry the date 1652, the Pine Tree type was actually struck later, roughly 1667 to 1674 for the larger planchets photographed here. The frozen 1652 date was used across most of the Massachusetts silver to disguise how long the unauthorized mint had been operating. As a hand-struck silver shilling (twelve pence), it circulated as real money in the colony rather than as a commemorative piece.

Massachusetts opened its own mint in Boston in 1652, run by silversmith John Hull together with his partner Robert Sanderson, to relieve a chronic shortage of coin in the colony. Because only the English Crown was supposed to authorize coinage, minting money was a bold and legally risky act. To avoid drawing attention to how long the mint had been running, nearly all of its silver was dated 1652 regardless of the year it was actually made.

The Pine Tree design was the last and most plentiful of the Massachusetts tree types, following the cruder Willow Tree and Oak Tree issues. Coins on the larger, thinner planchets — the style corresponding to the 1667–1674 period — were struck by hand with a hammer, which is why surviving pieces often show uneven flans, off-center detail, and slightly clipped edges. The Boston mint continued producing silver into the early 1680s before English pressure brought it to a close.

The photographed coin shows the classic obverse: a pine tree at the center, MASSACHUSETTS curving across the top, IN COLONY below, and a beaded (dotted) border ringing the design. The reverse, not visible here, normally carries the legend NEW ENGLAND with AN(no) DOM(ini) 1652 and the Roman-numeral denomination XII marking the shilling (twelve pence).

These are hand-hammered silver coins, so no two are identical. Expect irregular, somewhat ragged edges, tree detail that may be soft or doubled, and legends that do not always sit perfectly centered. Companion denominations in the same series (sixpence marked VI, threepence marked III) look similar but are smaller and thinner, so the marked XII and the larger diameter confirm the shilling.

Genuine Pine Tree Shillings are scarce, historically important, and consistently valuable. Even well-worn, honestly circulated examples typically trade in the low-to-mid four figures, while sharp, well-centered, problem-free pieces can reach the high four to five figures. Rare die varieties, unusually strong strikes, or coins with distinguished pedigree can command substantially more at specialist auction.

Condition, centering, and originality drive price heavily. Bent, holed, heavily clipped, or corroded pieces sell for far less than clean examples. Because values are high and the type is so widely reproduced, most collectors buy Pine Tree Shillings only when they are certified by a major grading service — an unauthenticated coin should be treated with caution regardless of how convincing it looks.