| Description: |
63.1 grains. Medium silver gray with pale silver devices and a hint of golden toning. A
trifle bright from some long-ago wiping, many fine scratches on obverse, central obverse
right of tree slightly bulged due to advanced die state and now quite flat on a coin as
worn as this. The obverse legends are complete, central reverse is strong, peripheral
reverse legends are heavily worn and some letters are indistinct. A nice entry-level piece
of Massachusetts silver, ideal for a colonial collector on a budget and still a very
desirable piece of early American money.It is worth noting that Massachusetts silver
pieces, especially those struck near the close of the Boston Mint in 1682 like the variety
presently offered, circulated for a very long time in pre-federal America. Eric Newman has
uncovered evidence that such pieces were counterfeited as late as the 1780s -- strong
evidence that they still commonly circulated, as no counterfeiter would attempt to pass a
fake of an uncurrent coin.
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