Commencing the Rarities Night session of our August 2018 ANA Auction is an important survivor from one of the earliest coinage issues produced in America. Featured in lot 1001 is a magnificent AU-50 (PCGS) 1652 NE Shilling that ranks among the finest examples known. The surfaces show a mottled patina of gray and light peach beneath faint golden iridescence. Glints of olive and navy show within the punches and suggest original luster. The planchet is imperfect but largely round, drawn to a soft point at the lower obverse. The punch on that side shows the typical softness at the very upper border, though it is otherwise sharp and within a strongly defined cartouche. Each of the characters feature a negligible distortion from repeated impressions of the punch, and die breaks are well developed at the middle arm of the E and in the field to the right. An old mark just below center is matched by a similarly ancient blemish at center on the reverse, though neither of these distracts from the overall aesthetic. The reverse punch is exceptionally bold, with the numerals uniformly pronounced and clear striations visible off the top of the first I. An exceptionally defined and impeccably preserved specimen.
This piece is a well-documented and storied example, having served as the host coin to a number of highly deceptive forgeries discovered in the 1970s. One of these counterfeits had been consigned to our (Bowers and Ruddy Galleries) August 1978 ANA Auction in a group of seven other colonial coins, six of which were also forgeries. Another of these counterfeit shillings was owned by specialist Bill Anton and had been designated a forgery in June 1977 by ANACS. In describing this saga in his article “Superb Numismatic Forgeries Are Upon Us” in the April 1979 edition of The Numismatist, Eric Newman provides a thorough analysis of the present piece, providing a weight identical to the present assessment (70.2 grains) and a specific gravity (10.36). He notes the “dark & natural” toning and the “s shaped bend” of the planchet that distinguish this genuine example from the two forgeries.
The current example, ranked number 4 in the Condition Census prepared by Jack Howes, is the finer of two Noe 1-A NE shillings that once belonged to Colonial coin specialist Donald Partrick. Partrick’s other example, certified EF-40 (NGC), is listed as number 6 in the Howes census and had previously sold in our (Stack’s) 1988 Oechsner Estate.
This important AU-50 (PCGS) 1652 NE Shilling will be presented in lot 1001 of the Rarities Night session of our August 2018 ANA World’s Fair of Money Auction. It will be sold alongside such incredible rarities as the finest known 1913 Liberty Head nickel (Proof-66 PCGS CAC) in lot 1096 and a Gem 1895-O Morgan dollar (MS-66 PCGS) in lot 1225. The sale is available for viewing and bidding on our website www.StacksBowers.com, or you may contact our offices to secure a printed catalog. To speak with a numismatic representative, please call 800-458-4646 or email Info@StacksBowers.com. Also, download our mobile app to view and participate in our auctions via your Android or Apple device.
