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The
Massachusetts Pine Tree penny
By Anne Bentley This
1776
Massachusetts Pine Tree copper penny was
unearthed during an excavation in Boston's North
End in the early 19th century. Since
Massachusetts did not issue copper coins in 1776
(probably due to the scarcity of copper), this
penny is the only known original and, as such,
is the most often consulted item in the
numismatics collection of the Massachusetts
Historical Society.
Paul Revere strikes again
Paul Revere has been credited as the designer
and engraver of the
Massachusetts Pine Tree
penny based upon stylistic similarities with a
unique "Janus Head"
half penny that was
discovered with engravings and proofs of Revere's continental currency notes, as well as
by comparison of lettering details on the coins
with Revere's engraved 1775-1776 currency and
securities printing plates. Additional
confirmation is in the evidence that the die for
the reverse of the penny sank during
production--the result of Revere's inexperience
as a die-maker.
Revere's design for the Pine Tree penny borrowed
symbols from local and classical sources. The
pine tree alludes both to the Sons of Liberty
flag of the Revolutionary era and to earlier
Massachusetts pine tree coins. The goddess of
Liberty, freely adapted from the Britannia of
English coins, holds aloft the Pileus cap, a
symbol since Roman times of freedom from
slavery. The animal at Liberty's feet is a
watchdog--a symbol of vigilance. All of these
elements create such an attractive coin that
several copies have been made of it. None is
from a cast of the actual coin, and all have
translated Revere's error--the shift in the
coin's reverse plane where the die sank--as a
raised line around seated Liberty. Most copies
also have replicated a mistake made by William
Sumner Appleton that was repeated in Sylvester
Crosby's monumental The Early Coins of America.
A cent or a penny?
After Boston numismatist William Sumner Appleton
acquired this coin in 1863, he researched it for
a paper he presented to the Massachusetts
Historical Society in 1870, pairing it with a
unique half penny (the "Janus Head") and
theorizing that they were patterns for 1776
Massachusetts copper coins. While there is no
mention of a proposal to mint copper coins in
the Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts from 1775
through 1778, Appleton believed that the
existence of 1776 New Hampshire copper coins
made it a viable assumption that Massachusetts
might also have planned to mint coins at that
time.
Appleton's description of the penny in the
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical
Society contained one major error, however, and
it is this error that defines many of the copies
of this coin. Mindful that the United States
officially coined cents and not pennies,
Appleton took the legend flanking the trunk of
the pine tree on the obverse to be "1C LM" (for
1 cent Lawful Money)--instead of its actual
reading, "1d LM," the British symbol for a
penny. If you find a copy of the Pine Tree
penny, examine it closely to see if it repeats
this logical mistake. |