A Coin from Lady Briscoe Plantation, St. Kitts
Archaeologists don’t dig for coins, but we do dig coins! This object we are talking about is a relatively common coin from 1806, which has nonetheless a very special story to tell. With us to tell this story is Todd Ahlman. Want to know why colonial imperial economies and local island economies are just two sides of the same coin and how entrepreneurship and enslavement could go hand in hand? Listen to this week’s episode of A History of the Caribbean in 100 Objects!
To look at while you listen to us:
The two sides of the coin (photo courtesy of Todd Ahlman)
A slightly smaller coin from the same year and with the same iconography (Wikimedia commons)
More information:
- Todd’s academia.edu page with a wealth of papers on the colonial history of St. Kitts
- Some more examples of similar coins from Numista.com and Downies.com.
- A 3D-model, made by Todd, of the excavations of the structure where the coin was found.
- The website of the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park
- Check out other highligts of St. Kitts heritage at St. Christopher’s National Trust.
As always thank you for listening and please share this podcast with friends, family and general fans of cool objects that are part of great and world-spanning histories. Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @theshoresoftime about what you think of the podcast and how we can improve the way we share these stories of the Caribbean and its objects.
We’ll talk to you next time, and remember: In this great future you can’t forget your past!
Acknowledgements: This podcast was made possible thanks to financial support by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Alice is employed by University of Leicester’s School of Ancient History and Archaeology and Angus works at Stanford University’s Archaeology Center. Todd Ahlman is the Director of the Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State University.
