🥇 BANNER Cut 1652 Massachusetts Oak Tree "spiny tree" schilling

[Gregg3131]

I was digging in a colonial field in Central VA and had a pretty scratchy tone however there is little trash so I dig most signals. After it came out of the hole I was sure I had another cut Silver reale as I have dug a few others at this site. After looking at it I noticed the lettering and rope border was different than other old silver I have dug so I inquired about it and got the amazing news its a 1652 Massachusetts Oak Tree Schilling. What a piece of US history. Very fortunate and thrilled to have save this piece from a tractor as it was not very deep.

 

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[Channon]

I live in Massachusetts and I think I’d die in excitement if I found one of those! Banner worthy find if there ever was one.

 

[Whyme]

WOW! Awesome find! Banner! Congrats!

 

[EdHartzel]

Speechless. Incredible find! Huge congratulations!!

 

[washingtonian]

Incredible, historic find. Way to go and dig it all. Sometimes the best finds come because we follow our sense of curiosity!

 

[Gregg3131]

Thanks for all the banner votes!!

 

[toasted]

Thanks for all the banner votes!!

Definitely banner worthy especially considering how few have been posted ever and none have made it. I think this is only the second cut piece posted since I joined in 2015. I really hope to see one up top some day. So much history and rarity and should be a no brainer banner especially to anyone who has ever hunted colonial

 

[CRUSADER]

Very nice find indeed.

Just one point - ''Schilling'' is German, you mean Shilling which is English.

 

[gwdigger]

Well I am voting banner now. Maybe this one will get up there.

 

[MCX]

WOW! Definitely Banner worthy!

 

[Megalodon]

Great bucket-lister of a coin, cut or not. Happy for you and just as jealous. Any MA silver is worthy of banner, IMHO.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Absolutely beautiful. Great pix, great story, great post !

 

[Truth]

Banner job just incredible. We need the story.

 

[Gregg3131]

So basically story is this is an old farm in Central Virginia which I was told had a mid 1800s homesite on it at one time. While searching a field about 100 yards from the mid 1800s house site the first time I started finding old brick and pottery then started digging 1700s tombac buttons and realized there must have been an earlier house in this field as the mid 1800s house was in another field quite far away I also dug a 1722 Cut Spanish and other colonial relics. So after returning I hit that same field and as mentioned in my post was able to save this in the back part of the field near a hole which appeared to hold remnants of a colonial chimney. This location seems to have had a very old house which has been gone for a very long time as there is no modern trash. One of those dream sites although I returned today and only found a few harmonica reed pieces and a few flat buttons.

 

[toasted]

So basically story is this is an old farm in Central Virginia which I was told had a mid 1800s homesite on it at one time. While searching a field about 100 yards from the mid 1800s house site the first time I started finding old brick and pottery then started digging 1700s tombac buttons and realized there must have been an earlier house in this field as the mid 1800s house was in another field quite far away I also dug a 1722 Cut Spanish and other colonial relics. So after returning I hit that same field and as mentioned in my post was able to save this in the back part of the field near a hole which appeared to hold remnants of a colonial chimney. This location seems to have had a very old house which has been gone for a very long time as there is no modern trash. One of those dream sites although I returned today and only found a few harmonica reed pieces and a few flat buttons.

Sounds like a great spot. Seems yours could’ve somehow survived into circulation alongside the cut Pistareens of the middle 18th century. I found mine among smaller whole and cut cobs of the circa 1710 time period. Im sure the ocassional cut tree coin was an oddity in everyday transactions especially by this time but was known and accepted when if ever encountered. Finding cut silver is about as good as it can get and a cut tree is even better. Sure a whole one would be nice but so few larger silvers of any kind of this period escaped cutting especially here along the mid Atlantic

 

[Ahab8]

Cut 1652 Massachusetts Oak Tree "spiny tree" schilling

Definitely banner worthy especially considering how few have been posted ever and none have made it. I think this is only the second cut piece posted since I joined in 2015. I really hope to see one up top some day. So much history and rarity and should be a no brainer banner especially to anyone who has ever hunted colonial

Toasted already knows my feelings on Mass silvers and my BANNER thoughts. This was the first coin ever minted in what would eventually become America. And this coin was minted nearly 100 years prior to that! Ok guys please don’t tell me my math is terrible....Mass silvers were not actually minted in 1652....it was about 30 years later. The circumstances of that alone make these coins so much more interesting. I won’t bore everybody with a long history lesson or go into a comparison of the rarity of a Mass silver next to the majority of gold coins (which I would love to find). But at the end of the day if you believe scarcity, incredible early history, fooling the English and a silver coin with a date that says 1652 is amazing like I do you should all hit the BANNER button. It is so worthy of being at the top for all to enjoy. Just like Toasted’s amazing cut piece and just like any other Mass silver that is pulled from the dirt. I was lucky in the fact that mine was whole and pretty and had a 1664 cob beside it. But these are ALL incredible with a unique story and a very important place in our early history.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

So basically story is this is an old farm in Central Virginia which I was told had a mid 1800s homesite on it at one time. While searching a field about 100 yards from the mid 1800s house site the first time I started finding old brick and pottery then started digging 1700s tombac buttons and realized there must have been an earlier house in this field as the mid 1800s house was in another field quite far away I also dug a 1722 Cut Spanish and other colonial relics. So after returning I hit that same field and as mentioned in my post was able to save this in the back part of the field near a hole which appeared to hold remnants of a colonial chimney. This location seems to have had a very old house which has been gone for a very long time as there is no modern trash. One of those dream sites although I returned today and only found a few harmonica reed pieces and a few flat buttons.

Luv this on-going "feel" picture of events. After having returned from a big hunt in VA (which had such plantation-style homestead sites) you can just FEEL the history beneath your feet. And pace-out the perimeters , etc...... Good story.

 

[Mr. Digger]

Amazing historical find. Congrats! Banner vote is in.

 

[Gregg3131]

Thankful to hear all this commentary and your knowledge on this coin. I have learned a lot. Fascinating stuff.

 

[diggerranger]

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