New England Silver Coins

About This Coin

Representing the earliest silver coins struck in British North America, the New England silver pieces of 1652 mark the Massachusetts Bay Colony's bold assertion of monetary sovereignty in defiance of English law that reserved coinage rights exclusively to the Crown. Authorized by the Massachusetts General Court and produced at the Hull-Sanderson mint in Boston under the direction of mintmaster John Hull, these coins bear the simplest possible design: the letters "NE" stamped on one side and the Roman numeral denomination (III, VI, or XII for threepence, sixpence, and shilling) on the other, leaving the remainder of both faces as blank planchet. This minimalist design — unique in American numismatic history — proved problematic almost immediately, as the large blank areas invited clipping by dishonest individuals who shaved silver from the edges, reducing the coin's intrinsic value while preserving its face value. The vulnerability to clipping prompted the rapid replacement of the NE design with the more elaborately designed Willow Tree, Oak Tree, and Pine Tree coinage series that covered the planchet surface more completely. Struck in sterling silver (.925 fine), the NE coins were produced in extremely limited quantities during their brief period of manufacture, making surviving examples among the most valuable and sought-after of all American colonial coins. All three denominations are major rarities, with the shilling being the most frequently encountered and the threepence essentially unobtainable. Grading these crude hand-struck pieces requires expertise in evaluating hand-hammered coinage, as the irregular planchets, uncentered strikes, and variable impression depth characteristic of seventeenth-century minting technology make conventional grading standards difficult to apply. Auction appearances of confirmed New England silver coins generate intense competitive bidding from colonial specialists and Americana collectors, with realized prices routinely reaching six figures for identifiable specimens.