LONDON.- An extremely rare example of a mid 17th century New England shilling was sold by specialist auctioneers Morton and Eden in London for an outstanding £264,000 (lot 1034).

The coin, one of the very first coins to have been struck in North America, recently came to light when it was discovered, along with several hundred other miscellaneous coins, in an old sweet tin.

Auctioneer and coin specialist James Morton, who originally identified the coin said: “I could hardly believe my eyes when I found it in the sweet tin and realised that it was an excellent example of a New England shilling, struck by John Hull in 1652 for use as currency by early settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

“I am not surprised at the amount of interest this exceptional coin attracted. The price paid, which was above the saleroom estimate, reflects its extraordinary historic significance and outstanding original state of preservation”.

The rare 1652 shilling was bought by an anonymous US purchaser bidding online.

The newly discovered early American coin had been consigned to Morton & Eden for sale by the art advisor, the Hon. Wentworth “Wenty” Beaumont, whose family seat is Bywell Hall in Northumberland’s Tyne Valley.

One of Wenty Beaumont’s ancestors, William Wentworth (1616-97) is thought to have arrived in New England as early as 1636 and several members of the family were later to occupy prominent positions in Colonial America, including John Wentworth and his son (also John), both of whom represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress of 1774-1781.

Wenty Beaumont recounts: “My father recently found the tin in his study. If he knew it was there he had long since forgotten about it. I’d never seen it before and when I opened it I thought it was just a rather bizarre collection of random old coinage. However as I don’t know anything about coins I felt it was worth checking out so I took it to show James Morton at Morton & Eden. I’m very pleased I did and needless to say I was completely amazed when James Morton pointed out how important the rare shilling was in the context of North American history. I can only assume that the shilling was brought back from America years ago by one of my forebears.”

The simple silver coin is of rudimentary and rustic design and bears the initials NE for New England, together with the Roman numerals XII (indicating 12 pence which equals one shilling). The New England shilling is one of about 40 examples, which are known to survive and has been certified as genuine and graded by NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation). NGC accorded the coin ‘mint state’ status, classing it as ‘MS61’. It is the only example of the issue to have been graded as mint state by either NGC or PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and is therefore the finest recorded specimen of its type.

The same vintage sweet tin also contained other rare early North American including a Massachusetts ‘Pine Tree’ shilling, the more sophisticated successor to the original New England issue, which sold for £6,600 (lot 1035), two examples of ‘Continental Currency’ pewter dollars dated 1776, the date of the Declaration of Independence which both sold respectively for £57,600 (MS63 lot 1037) and £60,000 (MS62 lot 1038) and a ‘Libertas Americana’ bronze medal (MS62), which sold for £13,200 (lot 1039).

The entire contents of the vintage sweet tin, which comprised coins from all over the world and in all metals, ranging in date from ancient times right up to the 1970s, including the early North American coins, made a total of £429,780.

NB. All prices quoted include 20% buyers’ premium.