Nederlandse 10 cent, 1828 1828

This small silver coin was minted in 1828 under the authority of Willem I, King of the Netherlands. While we might not think of money as ‘made’, this coin reminds us that it very much is. Minting coins was a carefully controlled process. Silver would have been precisely weighed and alloyed, then heated and hammered into sheets. Disks were cut from this, and then stamped with a die to create the image you see here, with its royal monogram and crown. The coin’s small size belies its huge social significance. Money is a crucial technology for trade, and for expressing value, whether in labor or goods. We see in this humble object the close relationship between craft, industry, and the centralized power of the state. Examining the coin’s materiality and manufacture opens up a window onto the wider economic system in which it played such an important part.