To show the intimate relation of this Indian money to our early history, it appears that even Harvard College accepted it for tuition fees and otherwise; for in 1641 a trading company, chartered to deal with the Indians in furs and wampum, was required to relieve the College of its super-abundance of this odd currency and redeem it, "provided they were not obliged to take more than £25 of it at any one time." The thrifty Dutch at New Amsterdam, however, took advantage of the scarcity of legitimate currency and the corresponding demand for wampum and established factories where they made it in such vast quantities that the market was broken and the value of wampum rapidly decreased.
The great source of metallic currency for New England in those earliest days was the West India Islands and much silver brought from there was later coined into "pine tree" shillings and sixpences. Governor Winthrop, in 1639, tells of a "small bark from the West Indies, one Capt. Jackson in her, with a commission from the Westminister Company to take prizes from the Spanish. He brought much wealth in money, plate, indigo and sugar." But metallic money became so scarce that by 1640 there was but little in the colonies and the greatest difficulty existed in making payments for goods or the wages of servants. In one instance, in Rowley, "the master was forced to sell a pair of his oxen to pay his servant's wages and so told the servant he could keep him no longer, not knowing how to pay him the next year. The servant answered him that he would [continue to] serve him for more of his cattle. But how shall I do, said the master, when all my cattle are gone? The servant replied, why, then you shall serve me and you shall then have your cattle again."
Various attempts were made to establish values to certain coins, more or less ficticious, but this failed to relieve the situation and finally, to obtain a more stable basis the Massachusetts General Court adopted a currency of its own and the "pine tree" money appeared, shortly preceded by the more rude and more easily counterfeited New England shillings and sixpences, that bore on one side the letters "N. E." within a small circle and on the other side the denomination in Roman numerals. These primitive coins were made between 1650 and 1652 and were superseded by the true oak and pine tree pieces after that date. The simple irregular form of the "N. E." coins rendered them an easy prey to the counterfeiter and the clipper, and the design of the newer coins, covering the whole surface of the planchet, was a protection against both dangers. The "N. E." shilling is now a rare coin and likewise the sixpence, while the threepence is rarer still, but two or three genuine examples being known to exist.