Pair of Pine Tree Shillings

1663–82

John Hull
American, born England, 1624–1683
Robert Sanderson
American, 1608–1693
Boston

In 1652 the General Court of Massachusetts called upon John Hull and Robert Sanderson to establish the first local mint in the state. To prevent counterfeiting of the new currency, a design of a pine tree within a double-bead ring, enclosing the words IN MASATHVSETS on one side and NEW ENGLAND AN DOM on the other, was stamped on the coins. Although the coins were produced every year until 1682, all were stamped with the date of the founding of the mint: 1652.

Status: On View, Gallery 165
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: John Hull
Title: Pair of Pine Tree Shillings
Place: Boston (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1663–1682
Medium: Silver
Inscriptions: Inscribed on obverse: IN MASATHVSETTS Inscribed on reverse: NEW ENGLAND.AN DOM Inscribed in center: 1652/ XII
Dimensions: Each diam: H.: 2.3 cm (7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan
Reference Number: 1949.119-120
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/64689/manifest.json

Milo M. Naeve, “The Classical Presence in American Art,” Magazine Antiques (September 1978) p. 496 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, Elizabeth McGoey, et al., American Silver in the Art Institute of Chicago (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016), cat. 2 (ill.).
Elizabeth McGoey, ed., American Silver in the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2018), https://publications.artic.edu/americansilver/reader/collection/section/6, cat. 2 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, From Colony to Nation: An Exhibition of American Painting, Silver and Architecture from 1650 to the War of 1812, Apr. 21–June 19, 1949, cat. 175.
Milwaukee Art Institute, Tradition of American Silver, Feb. 13–Mar. 19, 1953, cat. 1.

Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, New York, by 1949; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.