BOSTON — One of the rarest colonial coins is set to go on sale at a Boston coin dealer. The 1652 New England Threepence is expected to fetch a price tag of well over $1 million. There are currently only three coins of its kind known to exist, but one was stolen from a Yale collection and has not been seen since.
“This is the most pristine it can be. The other one at the Massachusetts Historical Society has a hole in it,” said Stanley Chu, branch manager at Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
Stack’s Bowers will auction this one in November. It’s the only one available to the public. They bought it from a shop in the Netherlands, but the coin has deep roots in Massachusetts.
Stamped at Hull Mint in 1652
It was stamped in 1652 at the Hull Mint. The location is now the Macy’s at Downtown Crossing. We’ll likely never know the original owner, but Chu says sources believe the coin was once owned by the Quincy family.
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“Abigail Adams and her husband, the second president John Adams, probably held this coin at one time,” Chu explains.
The coin has two distinct features engraved or embossed on it.
“This ‘NE’ symbolizes New England and on the back is the Roman numeral three, which stands for threepence,” Chu said.
The Stack’s Bowers Gallery on the edge of Faneuil Hall is no stranger to rare New England coins or bills. They have a note engraved by Paul Revere, but the 1652 threepence is by far the most expensive.
Somehow, the threepence has remained pristine for hundreds of years. Chu suspects that someone understood its potential value and stored it in a cupboard or wooden container.
