When I first started collecting Massachusetts Bay Colony silver series in January 2004 I was lucky to have Dave Bowers, Lawrence Stack, Alan Weinberg, Tony Terranova, and John Kraljevich available to lean upon for advice. Each was generous with information and the insight they'd gained over many years in the field. They gave me lots of encouragement to collect. This was very helpful to me as a newcomer to colonials, and I thank them for that.

Other than the odd duplicate banknote or coin that I've sold over the years (usually as a result of an upgrade), I had only sold one major collection of mine at auction prior to this. That was my U.S. Paper Money Type collection that I sold at auction through Lyn Knight in the beginning of 2001. Lyn did a first class job.

I am fortunate to have known Dave Bowers and Chris Karstedt for many years, and we are good friends. When I decided to shift my collecting of Massachusetts silver to type collecting of U.S. Colonials, I felt very comfortable consigning one of my favorite U.S. coin collections to Stack's Bowers. I knew everything would be done well, and it would be a first class effort. I think the catalog they produced is top flight.

Last Friday night At 6:00 pm, I entered room 304 of the Baltimore Convention Center, and was surprised to find that there were only a few seats available. In fact, it was standing room only, with many people looking on through the doorway. This is most unusual today, with so many participating by phone, and bidding on-line via the web. I managed to find a seat next to Tony Terranova, and the sale began.

I tracked the 18 lots carefully, and watched and listened to the bidding. The high point for me was when we got to lot 4010, the 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony Pine Tree Shilling. Large Planchet. Noe-1, Salmon 1-A, W-690. Rarity-2. Pellets at Trunk. MS-62 (PCGS). The bidding had nearly closed, when Dave Bowers said "Can I add a few words about this coin.." and went on to tell those gathered that the type is was one of the top favorites of Mr. Eliasberg, of Ken Bressett, and Dave Bowers. After the little speech about the joys of Noe 1-A, the coin brought another round of bidding and eventually sold for $49,938.00, all-in with the Buyer's Fee.

Now that it is all over, I do confess that prior to the sale, I was a bit nervous about the first three lots-would other collectors like them as much as I did? In the end I did not need to be concerned as these first three coins realized $992,875 combined, including Buyer's Fees.

According to the listed final bids on the Stack's Bowers website the preliminary total for my collection, consisting of lots 4001-4018 (18 coins) is $1,363,295 with buyer's fees.

David Bowers, Chris Karstedt, and the entire Stack's Bowers team did a wonderful job with the detailed catalog descriptions, the photographs, and getting the word out about the sale. Dave and Chris were a joy to work with from beginning to end. I am still collecting colonials; I was bidding on other U.S. colonials and tokens and got a few of them to add to my collection. It was a great night!

To read the complete lot description for Dave's Noe-1 NE Shilling, see:Lot #4010. 1652 Massachusetts Bay Colony Pine Tree Shilling. Large Planchet. Noe-1(stacksbowers.com/Auctions/AuctionLot.aspx?LotID=561581)