John Hull’s second series of silver coins produced at his Boston, Massachusetts mint were the first dated coins in what would become the United States. This “Willow Tree” design is believed to have been produced from 1653 to 1660. It was determined that Hull’s simple “NE” coins were easy to counterfeit and prone to clipping because of the absence of a border to the design. Clipping was the process of cutting slivers of silver off the edges of coins and passing the now underweight coins at full value.
On October 19, 1652 legislation was passed paving the way for the new design. The “Willow Tree” name was first noted in W.E. Woodward’s sale of the Joseph Mickley collection in 1867. These coins were very crudely struck, perhaps on a rocker press rather than by hand, the “tree” appearing as a mass of lines and squiggles that really doesn’t resemble any specific tree. The coins were struck in denominations of threepence, sixpence, and shilling with the obverse consisting of the tree in the center surrounded by inner and outer rings of dots. These rings are separated by the legend MASATHVSETS. IN. The reverse bears the date 1652 with the denomination in Roman numerals below. Inner and outer rings of dots surround, separated by the legend NEW ENGLAND AN DOM or a version thereof. The dotted rings were to provide some security against clipping.
Throughout the life of the Willow Tree series the date remains the same. For some time it was believed this was to avoid English recriminations for unlawfully producing coinage in the colonies. Only England had the authority to mint coins, so the theory was that by keeping the date as 1652, Massachusetts could claim that the coins were produced when Oliver Cromwell was in power during the English civil war. Louis Jordan in his book “John Hull, the Mint and the Economics of Massachusetts” dismisses this story. He concludes from his research that the Massachusetts mint was not under any political pressure to close. Jordan believes it far more likely that the date simply commemorates the year of the coinage’s authorizing legislation.
Though many experts disagree on several points regarding Hull’s Willow Tree coinage, they all agree on this: all are exceedingly rare. So rare that they are seldom seen even in larger collections. When they are encountered, well worn coins are the norm, a testament to their popularity in colonial Massachusetts.
