The Notorious Massachusetts Oak Tree Shilling

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 195
thq Pillar of the Community United States 3355 Posts	Posted Yesterday 3:59 pm I picked up this coin on ebay. Here's the previous Heritage sale from the Salmon Collection. Their photos are better than what I can do, though they're a poor resemblance to the dark shilling. https://coins.ha.com/itm/colonials/...bnail-071515 The seller sent the Heritage material. Someone had slipped a handwritten Fake Coin note in with it. There are some strong opinions about it. Yet NGC slabbed it. And there is only one in existence. To me it looks like a heavily clipped Noe-5. It's 15% light. The parts of the coin with the diagnostic die cracks are missing. My main question is whether it's the modern fake many critics think it is. Yesterday I went to the LCS for XRF's. I took a 1653 Commonwealth shilling and a Mexico 1630-1660 8R cob along for comparison. All three tested identical at 98-99% silver and 1-2% copper in the holders. I have seen similar high silver measures on other 200+ year old silver coins (surface depletion of copper maybe). While this doesn't necessarily prove authenticity, it's silver and similar to contemporary silver coins. If it's a fake the counterfeiter succeeded in faking the aged composition of a 1652 shilling exactly. "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire Edited by thq Yesterday 4:00 pm Report this Post to the Staff

Errers and Varietys Bedrock of the Community United States 78097 Posts	Posted Yesterday 9:06 pm Very interesting. I can't provide any insight, since I don't know anything about these. Errers and Varietys. Report this Post to the Staff
thecoinguy1964 Pillar of the Community United States 1347 Posts	Posted Today 9H 50M ago That looks like a gamble to me. JMHO Report this Post to the Staff
thq Pillar of the Community United States 3355 Posts	Posted Today 8H 10M ago I like it for the noteriety. Someone pinscratched the brand new holder. The colonial family of collectors are a really weird bunch IMO. The coin appeared in the market in 1988 so it's not like the current chinesium Morgans. Why these kooks didn't do simple xrf is beyond me. At least NGC weighed it. It's not pretty but neither are many of these shillings. "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire Report this Post to the Staff
westcoin Pillar of the Community United States 9806 Posts	Posted Today 1H 16M ago I'd love to have any coin from the Christopher Salmon Collection real or not. A great provenance to have, regardless what the TPGs and experts agree on or don't agree on. It's a neat coin and it wasn't stupid money, while still expensive if it turns out not to be I think you did okay. Composition of metal would not be definitive either as any counterfeiter that is worth his weight would be using an old coin from the same era that is worth a lot less to melt down for the metal to make this one, that way it would pass all the metallurgical tests. "Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector. See my want page: http://goccf.com/t/140440 Report this Post to the Staff
thq Pillar of the Community United States 3355 Posts	Posted Today 9M ago Certainly it could be a fake done by a real expert. You can get the right metal from Mexican cobs pretty cheaply. But it's not like modern fakes, and it isn't as preposterous as some of the contemporary counterfeits Swamper Bob used to post. And this is the only one that has ever shown up. I'll never prove it one way or another. Better oak trees easily sell for 10x as much. It's an interesting niche. I'm going to try to rub out the pinscratches. It's a malicious piece of work and it makes it hard to see the coin. Someday maybe I'll get it reholdered. "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire Report this Post to the Staff
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