Massachusetts "Pine Tree" Silver Coins

About This Coin

The Massachusetts Pine Tree silver coins, struck in sterling silver (.925 fine) with irregular hand-cut planchet edges, represent the third and most commonly encountered of the tree-design series produced at the Boston mint of John Hull and Robert Sanderson. The Pine Tree design succeeded the Oak Tree series and continued in production through the early 1680s, making it the longest-running and most extensively produced of the Massachusetts colonial silver coinages. All pieces bear the date 1652, maintaining the deliberate fiction that production began under the original General Court authorization, thereby predating King Charles II's Restoration and his potential objection to colonial coinage as an infringement on the royal prerogative. The obverse features a pine tree within a beaded border with MASATHVSETS IN, and the reverse displays the denomination in Roman numerals with NEW ENGLAND AN DOM. Pine Tree coins exist in two major diameter formats — the large planchet (approximately 28 mm) and the small planchet (approximately 22 mm) — with the transition reflecting a change in production methods during the series' long run. The pine tree motif carried symbolic weight: it was associated with New England's vast white pine forests, which provided the mast timber essential to the Royal Navy and represented the region's economic independence. Pine Tree silver coins are the most accessible entry point into colonial Massachusetts numismatics, offering collectors the opportunity to own genuine 17th-century American coinage at prices below those commanded by the scarcer Willow Tree and Oak Tree types.