Shilling 1665 - 1685

This silver shilling was produced in Boston by John Hull in the 17th century. It is a simple disc of hammered and cut silver. The surface of the coin has been imprinted with a tree, surrounded by lettering to denote its value. The material itself speaks volumes. Silver, often extracted through intense labor, especially in colonial contexts, was a global commodity. The coin's irregular shape reflects the rudimentary technology available at the time, as the means to create perfectly round coins had not yet arrived in the colonies. The slightly off-center image of a tree, and the somewhat crudely stamped lettering, emphasizes the distance from the centers of European power, where more sophisticated minting processes were common. The coin's very existence tells a story of nascent economic activity in the new colonies, far from the control of the British Empire. It serves as a reminder that even the smallest objects can embody larger narratives of labor, politics, and place.