The first group of Massachusetts Coins from the Salmon Collection is being offered in August and includes some of the greatest rarities in early American coinage.
Christopher J. Salmon is a numismatist who wrote the book on the subject “The Silver Coins of Massachusetts: Classification, Minting Technique, Atlas”. His collection include more than 350 pieces of Massachusetts colonial coins.
The silver coins of Massachusetts hold a special place in early American numismatics. They were the first coins struck in British North America, a mere generation after the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These coins production started in Boston in 1652 when the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law authorizing the establishment of the “Hull Mint” operated by John Hull and Robert Sanderson and stopped in the 1682, after the mint was closed by the English government. Coins were issued in denominations of 2, 3 and 6 pence and 1 shilling.
The first pieces bore the letters ‘NE’ and the denomination “III”, “VI” or “XII” and were produced ‘by hand’. Later pieces had more sophisticated design types that included trees — Willow, Oak and Pine.
Despite the fact that Massachusetts Coins were produced for several decades, most of them dated “1652,” except the Oak Tree Twopence, which are dated “1662”, and ‘NE’ coins, which are not dated at all.
Heritage Auctions is offering the Massachusetts Coins from the Salmon Collection in a series of sales, including more than 120 in the US Coins Signature Auction, being held August 22-28, 2022.
Some highlights from the Christopher J. Salmon Collection in this sale include:
