(1659) MD 1S Lord Baltimore MS(PCGS#34)

The March 2012 Baltimore Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1011

等级

XF40

价格

144,910

详细说明

Undated (1659) Lord Baltimore Shilling. Hodder 1-A, Breen-64, W-1080. Large Bust, MARIAE. EF-40 (PCGS). A pleasing, lightly circulated example of the largest of the denominations authorized by Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Rare in all grades, most Lord Baltimore shillings are quite well worn, often damaged or mounted, with choice mid-grade examples extremely difficult to come by. While Baltimore sixpences are somewhat plentiful from a recent hoard, no such group of shillings has ever turned up--those of you who are keeping an errata sheet for your <em>Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins</em>&nbsp;should note that the book mistakenly attributes this hoard to the shilling entry instead of the one for sixpences. This piece shows rich dark gray surfaces with slate blue and pale gold undertones but for a lighter area in the left obverse field. The minor surface marks are commensurate with the grade and level of wear, no damage or corrosion, really a nicely preserved specimen. Original in appearance, a fine example of this signal 17th century American rarity. Calvert was accorded "all the rights of the Bishop of Durham"&nbsp;in his Maryland charter, which Calvert read to mean including the right to issue coins--just like the medieval Bishop of Durham. While this interpretation got Calvert into hot water for exporting precious metals from the British Isles, some of the coins made it to America nonetheless and served the small population of his Chesapeake domain. Today, they're typically found only in museums and advanced collections of early American coins. One has not been offered at auction since August 2010, a VF-25 (PCGS) that brought $16,100.<br /> <br /> <strong>Numismatic Reflections by Q. David Bowers</strong><br /> Yet another impressive coin from the Jim Jones collection, this piece will satisfy the Maryland specialist or, more likely, anyone putting together a collection of colonial types as listed in <em>A Guide Book of United States C