Not many coins can match the infamy of this particular 1652 Pine Tree shilling, which has been stirring up controversy in the numismatic world for almost 150 years.
Coin Week reports:
We can trace this Pine Tree shilling back to Strobridge and Woodward’s December 1871 sale of the Dr. Charles Clay Collection of Manchester, England. It was offered in that sale not as a fabrication, but as an authentic example of the NE punch alongside several other Massachusetts silver coins displaying the exact same mark. Believing it to be genuine, Dr. Charles Clay himself suggested that it “almost proves [Pine Tree coinage] to have been in circulation before the N.E. coins, or that the impression may have been a freak with the old N.E. punch.” Held in high regard, this piece was even featured on the very limited photo plates included with the sale.