1652 Massachusetts Oak Tree Shilling! And other colonial goodies. My best hunt ever!

[oxbowbarefoot]

Today was by far by far my best detecting yet! I started detecting around 6am and right off the bat I scored 4 Indian cents in a row. Nice way to begin a marathon day of detecting. On my first return pass, I found a Draped Bust cent and a Connecticut Copper within 5 feet of each other. Another 100ft down the pass I spotted my first Indian Axe Head, which made my day! Soon after, Broken Knee arrived for a while. He made a few cool finds and decided to head to a different part of the site. I decided to stay and finish out the area I had been working. Boy am I glad did. My Deus gave me a real solid sweet sound and began to dig. I flipped the plug, grabbed some dirt and ran it over my coil. It was in my hand. I broke open the clump of dirt to see the beautiful color of old silver looking back at me, with the clear as day date of 1652! I couldn't believe it, my second Massachusetts Colonial Silver in less than a week from the same site! At first I thought it was a Pine Tree Shilling, but once I rinsed it with a little water, the Oak Tree emerged. This is by far my best coin I have ever found. I am still in shock. Does anyone know the variety?

 

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[g-olden years]

WOW, WOW, & WOW!!! HUGE CONGRATS ON SUCH A LOVELY, HISTORIC COIN!
Some of my ancestors settled in Massachusetts in early 1600's & later in what was to become Vermont & New Hampshire, so I guess a few may have had similar coins jingling in their pockets or whatever they kept coins in back then. Looking forward to seeing your next hunt's results too! HH Andi

 

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[CoinmasterIV]

Find of a lifetime for sure!

 

[birdman]

Now that is a fantastic find!! The stone axe is nice also but the shilling is a no brainer for the banner.

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

WOW, WOW, & WOW!!! HUGE CONGRATS ON SUCH A LOVELY, HISTORIC COIN!
Some of my ancestors settled in Massachusetts in early 1600's & later in what was to become Vermont & New Hampshire, so I guess a few may have had similar coins jingling in their pockets or whatever they kept coins in back then. Looking forward to seeing your next hunt's results too! HH Andi

That's awesome. I never knew I had colonial roots until I signed up for ancestry.com. I even had a few relatives live in the area where the coin was found.

 

[DigitNY]

Today was by far by far my best detecting yet! I started detecting around 6am and right off the bat I scored 4 Indian cents in a row. Nice way to begin a marathon day of detecting. On my first return pass, I found a Draped Bust cent and a Connecticut Copper within 5 feet of each other. Another 100ft down the pass I spotted my first Indian Axe Head, which made my day! Soon after, Broken Knee arrived for a while. He made a few cool finds and decided to head to a different part of the site. I decided to stay and finish out the area I had been working. Boy am I glad did. My Deus gave me a real solid sweet sound and began to dig. I flipped the plug, grabbed some dirt and ran it over my coil. It was in my hand. I broke open the clump of dirt to see the beautiful color of old silver looking back at me, with the clear as day date of 1652! I couldn't believe it, my second Massachusetts Colonial Silver in less than a week from the same site! At first I thought it was a Pine Tree Shilling, but once I rinsed it with a little water, the Oak Tree emerged. This is by far my best coin I have ever found. I am still in shock. Does anyone know the variety?

That's the mother lode, that tree shilling although not rare, one of the most beloved coins, made before we colonized, without permission of the British .

 

[Joescollection2012]

Very cool! Where abouts in MA are you located?

 

[sliverofsilver]

great coins and great artifacts all in 1 day
it just dont get no better than that.
congrats and good luck.
i vote banner.
HH

 

[dgaughan]

That is an awesome find! congrats

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Please accept my belated congrats on a fantastic find! I wanted to send a detailed reply. I recall that after you posted your cut Pine Tree shilling, I replied jokingly that you should forget about all the accolades and go find yourself another Mass Silver coin. Well, I was just joking, but clearly you were not. What a fantastic year that you are having, and it’s only April! The stone ax head was a real killer find as well.

In regards to getting your coin slabbed, it’s your find, your coin, so do whatever you like. I did want to pass on the following: Check out the pics of the Oak Tree Shilling that I found back in 2006. See the NCS (NGC) slab - take a good look, because I’ll be tossing it out sooner or later. Of course, I need to crack it first to get the shilling before I junk the empty slab. No matter how good a dug coin looks, they always seem to earn a details (not condition) finding. Don’t get me wrong. My coin has some dark toning, so it deserves the environmental damage label; however, I have seen other slabbed Mass silver, dug and not dug, that earned grades or a details finding with a surprising lack of consistency in fair and objective grading in my opinion. Also note that the NCS label has the wrong variety, and they only had to guess at 1 of the 4 varieties covered in Red Book, which was their practice! There are 14 varieties of the Oak Tree shilling per the Noe classification. After I found it, my buddy and I correctly identified it as a Noe-14, the Spiny Tree Variety. It took us 20 minutes to research it on-line. The Spiny Tree is probably the most distinct Mass Silver tree coins, and it’s listed in Red Book. But the so-called experts at NCS (NGC) messed it up the variety ID and they had the coin for at least a few weeks. I also had the ship the coin to NCS (NGC) twice, because they screwed up the handling of the coin, but that’s another story.

If you want to slab it, go for it! But remember, you won’t be able to handle it. In addition, if you wish to sell it years from now, an auction house will have a much easier job getting higher price for you with a far better description than “DAMAGED, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.” Anyone spending $$$ to buy Mass silver can spot a fake, so your really don’t need to concern yourself with authentication, and a reputable auction house would unlikely consign a fake coin.

Anyway, fantastic find! Have it slabbed if you like, but I would be hard pressed to slab another dug coin of my own.

One question - why are you sitting around reading this post? You should be out there going after that Willow Tree shilling.

Go get’em!

 

[Iron Patch]

Please accept my belated congrats on a fantastic find! I wanted to send a detailed reply. I recall that after you posted your cut Pine Tree shilling, I replied jokingly that you should forget about all the accolades and go find yourself another Mass Silver coin. Well, I was just joking, but clearly you were not. What a fantastic year that you are having, and it’s only April! The stone ax head was a real killer find as well.

In regards to getting your coin slabbed, it’s your find, your coin, so do whatever you like. I did want to pass on the following: Check out the pics of the Oak Tree Shilling that I found back in 2006. See the NCS (NGC) slab - take a good look, because I’ll be tossing it out sooner or later. Of course, I need to crack it first to get the shilling before I junk the empty slab. No matter how good a dug coin looks, they always seem to earn a details (not condition) finding. Don’t get me wrong. My coin has some dark toning, so it deserves the environmental damage label; however, I have seen other slabbed Mass silver, dug and not dug, that earned grades or a details finding with a surprising lack of consistency in fair and objective grading in my opinion. Also note that the NCS label has the wrong variety, and they only had to guess at 1 of the 4 varieties covered in Red Book, which was their practice! There are 14 varieties of the Oak Tree shilling per the Noe classification. After I found it, my buddy and I correctly identified it as a Noe-14, the Spiny Tree Variety. It took us 20 minutes to research it on-line. The Spiny Tree is probably the most distinct Mass Silver tree coins, and it’s listed in Red Book. But the so-called experts at NCS (NGC) messed it up the variety ID and they had the coin for at least a few weeks. I also had the ship the coin to NCS (NGC) twice, because they screwed up the handling of the coin, but that’s another story.

If you want to slab it, go for it! But remember, you won’t be able to handle it. In addition, if you wish to sell it years from now, an auction house will have a much easier job getting higher price for you with a far better description than “DAMAGED, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.” Anyone spending $$$ to buy Mass silver can spot a fake, so your really don’t need to concern yourself with authentication, and a reputable auction house would unlikely consign a fake coin.

Anyway, fantastic find! Have it slabbed if you like, but I would be hard pressed to slab another dug coin of my own.

One question - why are you sitting around reading this post? You should be out there going after that Willow Tree shilling.

Go get’em!

You can't trust anything when they get the most important (by far the most important) detail wrong, the variety! That alone makes the grading completely worthless and there's no reason to leave it in. I'd go the extra step and demand my money back because that's a joke.

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

Very cool! Where abouts in MA are you located?

I'm in Western Ma, Ct. River Valley.

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

Please accept my belated congrats on a fantastic find! I wanted to send a detailed reply. I recall that after you posted your cut Pine Tree shilling, I replied jokingly that you should forget about all the accolades and go find yourself another Mass Silver coin. Well, I was just joking, but clearly you were not. What a fantastic year that you are having, and it’s only April! The stone ax head was a real killer find as well.

In regards to getting your coin slabbed, it’s your find, your coin, so do whatever you like. I did want to pass on the following: Check out the pics of the Oak Tree Shilling that I found back in 2006. See the NCS (NGC) slab - take a good look, because I’ll be tossing it out sooner or later. Of course, I need to crack it first to get the shilling before I junk the empty slab. No matter how good a dug coin looks, they always seem to earn a details (not condition) finding. Don’t get me wrong. My coin has some dark toning, so it deserves the environmental damage label; however, I have seen other slabbed Mass silver, dug and not dug, that earned grades or a details finding with a surprising lack of consistency in fair and objective grading in my opinion. Also note that the NCS label has the wrong variety, and they only had to guess at 1 of the 4 varieties covered in Red Book, which was their practice! There are 14 varieties of the Oak Tree shilling per the Noe classification. After I found it, my buddy and I correctly identified it as a Noe-14, the Spiny Tree Variety. It took us 20 minutes to research it on-line. The Spiny Tree is probably the most distinct Mass Silver tree coins, and it’s listed in Red Book. But the so-called experts at NCS (NGC) messed it up the variety ID and they had the coin for at least a few weeks. I also had the ship the coin to NCS (NGC) twice, because they screwed up the handling of the coin, but that’s another story.

If you want to slab it, go for it! But remember, you won’t be able to handle it. In addition, if you wish to sell it years from now, an auction house will have a much easier job getting higher price for you with a far better description than “DAMAGED, ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.” Anyone spending $$$ to buy Mass silver can spot a fake, so your really don’t need to concern yourself with authentication, and a reputable auction house would unlikely consign a fake coin.

Anyway, fantastic find! Have it slabbed if you like, but I would be hard pressed to slab another dug coin of my own.

One question - why are you sitting around reading this post? You should be out there going after that Willow Tree shilling.

Go get’em!

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Thank you for the well thought out post. I appreciate the knowledge that I gain from the comments made by you and other members. Hopefully we can meet up sometime for a hunt or to compare notes. I still plan on getting mine slabbed, but not right away. I want to do as much research as I can first.
The Willow Tree and NE Shilling are now on my agenda for the weekend. They weren't even on my list as I thought they would never be achievable. Considering last weeks finds, they now hold my top 2 spots on my wish list.

 

[Iron Patch]

What's strange about this hobby, and is part of what makes it great... you could dig every day until your 80 and never find another MA silver. You got that snake button, and now the silver, so a nice Rev War button from Lexington & Concord would be something else to shoot for.

 

[swamp yankee]

CONGRATS on the score of a lifetime my man! Good thing you stayed in the "hot "area instead of jumping around,huh? A lesson to us all,stick with a well producing area until it's "cleaned out" THEN move on....

 

[worldtalker]

CONGRATS on the score of a lifetime my man! Good thing you stayed in the "hot "area instead of jumping around,huh? A lesson to us all,stick with a well producing area until it's "cleaned out" THEN move on....

I have hunted with Jason for quite a spell,He's homed in on the early Colonial age spot,by dang I've enjoyed hunting with him,miles of walking in that muck and dust through the seasons,Jason is a die hard,I am glad to have met Him!!!

 

[bullshrink]

Unbelievable .. your find drove me out and I hit random fields from Hadley to Northfield. All we got was a buffalo nickel. Not used to potato / corn fields usually hit cellar holes in woods. Almost drove al tye way to Northampton. Just curious. . Have you ever got booted out on a nonposted field? I drag my two little ones with me and want to keep this as positive as possible. Heading back out tommorow my son wants to find another arrowhead and I need a colonial coin!

 

[cntrydncr1]

wow that coin is beautiful!! congrats

 

[MariahGreer]

wow so kewl.. can't wait till the day that I have such a find.. good job

 

[Joescollection2012]

Awesome, I'm from the southcoast, Attleboro area.

I'm in Western Ma, Ct. River Valley.

 

[steelheadwill]

Fantastic Oak Your tree has nice high relief, the willows and oaks were often light there.
Big Congrats on the nicest Ma Silver I've seen recovered !!!
I got a modern gold recently, sure isn't the thrill you experience diggin Tree Silvers
Just read about the misidentified variety, one more reason why I've not submitted a coin yet.
Lot's of fun figuring it out yourself too,
My Oak was pretty easy to ID, the only one with 'New England' starting at 1'oclock, but it's
condition doesn't compare to yours....
Here's an example of a Noe-1 for you to compare, if you need other images of Mass Silvers
just let me know..
Keep those awesome finds Comin !! Herbie.