Bill Jones' Colonial Type Set
1652 SMALL PINE TREE MASSACHUSETTS 1S

Owner Comments:

Toward the end of the Massachusetts silver series, John Hull began to issue his coins at a greatly expanded pace. After years of ignoring the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s minting operations, rumblings began to be heard that perhaps the King was going to clamp down on Hull’s minting operation. The Massachusetts General Court granted Hull the franchise to produce coins for the rest of his life, and Hull started minting coins at a quicker pace.



In order to lengthen the useful lives of the dies, Hull reduced the diameter of the coins, which reduced the amount of pressure that was required to strike them. Hull also limited his operations only to shillings. None of the lower denominations (3p and 6p) were produced. The new coins, which collectors call the small Pine Tree Shillings were produced from 1675 to 1682.



John Hull died on October 1, 1683. Although there was talk of reviving the Massachusetts silver coinage, it never came to be. Massachusetts would be the first colony to issue paper money, and the first government in the Western world to do so in 1690. The first paper money was issued by the Chinese.