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Pine Tree shilling (small planchet)

Date1674 -1682

Maker John Hull & Robert Sanderson

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Boston

MediumSilver

DimensionsDiameter: 26 mm

Credit LineGift of the Lasser family

Object number2006-84,53

Label TextStruck in Boston from the mid 1670s through the early 1680s, these coins were made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who featured them in his 1841 "Whole Story of Grandfather's Chair," which has a chapter named for the coins. In this tale, John Hull, the central character, pays his rather plump daughter's marriage dowry in Pine tree shillings! Because the real-life John Hull was the minter for Massachusetts during the 17th century he could well have paid the dowry in said coins; however, Hawthorne's version is just an amusing story. Today, the Pine tree coins are famous for being part of the first true coinage made in what is now the United States.

Noe #16

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