Money Matters in European Artworks and Literature, c. 1400-1750

Money Matters in European Artworks and Literature, c. 1400-1750

This is the first book to focus on coins as material artefacts and agents of meaning in the arts of the early modern period. The precious metals, double-sided form, and emblematic character of coins had deep resonance in European culture and cultural encounters. Coins embodied Europe’s impressive power and the labour, increasingly located in colonised regions, of extracting gold and silver. Their efficacy depended on faith in their inherent value and the authority perceived to be imprinted into them, guaranteed through the institution of the Mint. Yet they could speak eloquently of illusion, debasement and counterfeiting. A substantial introduction precedes paired essays by interdisciplinary scholars organised around five themes: power and authority in the Mint; currency and the anxieties of global trade; coins and persons; coins in and out of circulation; credit and risk. A thought-provoking Afterword focused on an American contemporary artist demonstrates the continuing expressive and symbolic power of numismatic forms.
  • Cover
  • Table of Contents
    • Introduction: Embodying Value
    • Power and Authority in the Mint
      • 1. Weighing Things Up in Maarten de Vos’s Tribunal of the Brabant Mint 1594
        • Joanna Woodall
      • 2. Scaling the World: Allegory of Coinage and Monetary Governance in the Dutch Republic
        • Sebastian Felten and Jessica Stevenson Stewart
    • Currency and the Anxieties of Global Trade
      • 3. Market Stall in Batavia: Money, Value, and Uncertainty in the Age of Global Trade
        • Angela Ho
      • 4. Beyond the Mint: Picturing Gold on the Rijksmuseum’s Box of the Dutch West India Company
        • Carrie Anderson
    • Coins and Persons
      • 5. The Heft of Truth: Inwardness and Debased Coinage in Shakespeare’s Plays
        • Rana Choi
      • 6. Identity, Agency, Motion: Taylor’s Twelvepence and the Poetry of Commodity
        • Heather G.S. Johnson
    • Coins in and out of Circulation
      • 7. Margarethe Butzbach and the Florin Extorted by Blows
        • Coins Securing Social Bonds in Fifteenth-Century Germany*
          • Allison Stielau
      • 8. Centring the Coin in Jacob Backer’s Woman with a Coin*
        • Natasha Seaman
    • Credit and Risk
      • 9. Accounting Faith and Seeing ‘Ghost Money’ in Masaccio’s Tribute Money*
        • Roger J. Crum
      • 10. Monetary Transactions and Pictorial Gambles in Georges de La Tour
        • Dalia Judovitz
    • Afterword
      • The Work of Art: The Installations of Kelli Rae Adams
        • Natasha Seaman
    • Index
  • List of Illustrations
    • I Leonhard Beck, The Young Emperor Maximilian Visiting a Mint, c. 1514–1516, woodcut, dimensions unknown, for Marx Treitzsauerwein, Der Weißkunig, privately circulated, 1526. Illustration from the edition commercially published by Joseph Kurzboeck, Vienna
    • II Jost Amman (designer), Hartman Schopper (author), Monetarius, 1568, woodcut and letterpress, 148 × 79 mm (print 90 × 61), from Panoplia Omnium Illiberalium Mechanicarum (The Book of Trades), Frankfurt: Sigmund Feierabend, 1568. © Lebrecht Music & Arts
    • III Unknown artist, Group Portrait of Mintmaster Clemens van Eembrugge and His Companions, 1581, oil on panel, dimensions unknown. ’s-Heerenberg, Netherlands, Huis Bergh Castle.
    • IV Unknown Indo-Christian artist, The Virgin of Mount Potosí, c. 1740, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown. Potosí, Museo de la Casa Nacional de Moneda. Photo © Julie Laurent/Julyinireland (Flickr).
    • V Jacob Jonghelinck, medal of Philip II of Spain to commemorate the victory of Saint Quentin. Obverse: Philip II laureate, reverse: Saint Quentin with commemorative inscription, 1557, silver, 35 mm diameter. Location unknown. © Artokoloro/ Alamy Stock Ph
    • VI Frans Francken the Younger, The Cabinet of a Collector with Paintings, Shells, Coins, Fossils and Flowers, 1619, oil on panel, 85 × 56 cm. Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Photo: Hugo Maertens, Collection KMSKA – Flemish Community (CC0).
    • 1.1 Maarten de Vos, The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint, datable to 1594, oil on panel, 142.5 × 187.5 cm. Antwerp, Museum Snijders Rockoxhuis (KBC Bank). Image © Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis / KBC, Erwin Donvil.
    • 1.2 List of the Officers depicted in Maarten de Vos, The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint. Original lost, formatted as transcribed by the antiquarian Jan Baptist van der Straelen (1761–1847). From Beatrijs Wolters van der Wey, “Munters”, Document 1.
    • 1.3 Maarten de Vos, drawing for The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint, datable to c. 1594, pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk within brown-ink framing lines, 29.5 × 39.8 cm. Antwerp, Museum Snijders Rockoxhuis (KBC Bank). Image © Museum Snijders&Rocko
    • 1.4 Unknown designer, real of Philip II, Mint of the Duchy of Brabant, Antwerp, 1555–1576. Obverse and reverse, gold, dimensions unknown. Amsterdam, The National Numismatic Collection, managed by De Nederlandsche Bank, Inventory number NM-09654.
    • 1.5 Pieter Paul Rubens, sketch for The Arch of the Mint (front with Moneta), datable to c. 1635, oil on panel, 104 × 71 cm. Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. . Photo: Rik Klein Gotink.
    • 1.6 Pieter van der Borcht, Public Stage on the Market Place, 1594–1595, etching, 32.5 × 20.4 cm, from Joannes Bochius, Descriptio Publicae Gratulationis, Spectaculorum et Ludorum, in Adventu Sereniss. Principis Ernesti Archiducis Austriae, Antwerp: Ex Off
    • 1.7 Ioan Wouters, apprentice proof of competence. Obverse: Saint John the Baptist, reverse: moneyer’s balance, April 1614, silver, 25 mm diameter. Antwerp, Museum aan de Stroom. Photo: Tom van Ghent.
    • 1.8 Detail from Joost Amman (designer), Michael Manger (printmaker), Aigentliche Abbildung deß Gantzen Gewerbs der Löblichen Kauffmanschafft und Fürnehmsten Handelstadt (Allegory of Commerce, the Glory of Antwerp), 1585, woodcut and letterpress, 108.5 × 8
    • 1.9 Guillaum de Neve, boxed coin weights and hand balance for weighing silver coins, c. 1644, various media, dimensions unknown. Amsterdam, The National Numismatic Collection, managed by De Nederlandsche Bank.
    • 2.1 Romeyn de Hooghe (attributed), Allegory of Coinage, after 1681, oil on canvas, 135 × 178 × 8.3 cm, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Object No. SK-A-833.
    • 2.2 Unknown designer, duit, c. 1590–1596. Reverse, copper, 24 mm diameter. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Object No. NG-NM-7747-3.
    • 2.3 Unknown designer, guilder of the Dutch Republic, Mint of Holland, Dordrecht, 1682. Obverse, silver, 33 mm diameter. Object No. KOG-MP-1-1561B.
    • 2.4 Theodor de Bry, “Nigritae in Scrutandis Venis Metallicis/ ab Hispanis in Insulas” (Blacks Examining Metallic Veins/ from Spaniards on the Islands), Part 5 of Americae, Frankfurt am Main, 1595, engraving, image 15.9 × 19.5 cm (overall 34.5 × 23.5 cm).
    • 2.5 Romeyn de Hooghe, “Vastgestelde Geloof” (Established Faith), Chapter 36 of his Hieroglyphica oft Merkbeelden der Oude Volkeren, Amsterdam, 1735, etching, overall 26 × 19.2 cm. Courtesy of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at U
    • 2.6 Romeyn de Hooghe, “Van de Joodsche Stand by Christus Tyden” (On the Position of the Jews at the Time of Christ), Chapter 30 of his Hieroglyphica oft Merkbeelden der Oude Volkeren, Amsterdam, 1735, etching, overall 26 × 19.2 cm. Courtesy of The Rare Bo
    • 2.7 Jan Luyken, “De Munter” (The Coiner), from Casper Luyken and Jan Luyken, Spiegel van het Menselyk Bedryf, Amsterdam, 1704, etching, 14.3 ×  8.1 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Object No. RP-P-OB-44.532.
    • 2.8 Romeyn de Hooghe, “Peace before the Invasion of France,” Schouwburg der Nederlandse Verandering, Amsterdam, 1674, etching, 23.2 × 35 cm. Courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum, London, Inv. No. Y,1.80 
    • 2.9 Simon Fokke, Willem V Neemt Zitting als Bewindhebber bij de VOC (Willem V Sits as Director of the VOC), 1768, etching, 29.7 × 40.4 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. Object No. RP-P-OB-84.691.
    • 3.1 Andries Beeckman (attributed), A Market Stall in Batavia, c. 1650s–1660s, oil on canvas, 106 × 174.5 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 3.2 Julius Milheuser after Johannes Vinckboons, View of Batavia, 1619 – 1680, etching, 42.7 cm × 95.1 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. 
    • 3.3 Andries Beeckman, The Castle of Batavia, 1661, oil on canvas, 108 × 151.5 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. 
    • 3.4 Gabriel Metsu, A Woman Selling Poultry and Fish, 1656–1658, oil on canvas, 40.8 x 35.3 cm. Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Bpk Bildagentur/ Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel/Art Resource, NY. 
    • 3.5 Joachim Beuckelaer, Vegetable Seller, 1563, oil on panel, 112.2 × 163.5 cm. Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 3.6 Gabriel Metsu, Vegetable Market in Amsterdam, c. 1660, oil on canvas, 97 × 83 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre. Scala/Art Resource, NY.
    • 3.7 Marinus van Reymerswaele, Moneychanger and his Wife, 1538, oil on panel, 79 × 107 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. © Museo Nacional del Prado/Art Resource, NY.
    • 3.8 Quentin Metsys, Money Changer and his Wife, 1514, oil on panel, 74 × 68 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 4.1 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company, 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.2 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, lid), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.3 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, “Curaçao”), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.4 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, “St. George Delmina”), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.5 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, base), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.6 Pieter Jannsen Bas, 12-guilder emergency coin issued by the Dutch West India Company during the Portuguese siege of Pernambuco. Obverse and reverse, 1645–1646, gold, 18 × 18 mm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.7 Unknown designer, medal struck by the Groningen chamber of the Dutch West India Company, 1683. Obverse and reverse, silver, 45 mm diameter. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 5.1 Designer/Medalist unknown, “Old Coppernose” English Testoon, 1546-1551, silver and copper coin, dimensions unknown, Llantrisant, Pontyclun, UK. Image courtesy of the Royal Mint Museum.
    • 6.1 Unknown designer, shilling of Edward VI, r. 1550–1553. Obverse and reverse, silver, 31.8 mm diameter. New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Museum.
    • 6.2 John Taylor, A Shilling, or The Travailes of Twelve-Pence, frontispiece, 1621, woodcut and print, dimensions unknown. San Marino, CA, Huntington Library.
    • 7.1 Wenzel von Olmütz, Woman Weighing Coins, c. 1480, engraving, dimensions unknown. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
    • 7.2 Unknown designer, florin, Miltenberg, 1350–1353. Reverse and obverse, gold, dimensions unknown. Stuttgart, Münzkabinett, Landesmuseum Württemberg.
    • 7.3 Unknown designer, guilder, Mainz, 1491. Reverse and obverse, gold, 23 mm diameter. Berlin, Münzkabinett, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin.
    • 7.4 Hans Schaur, Warning about Counterfeit Coins, 1482, hand-coloured woodcut, 22.2 × 15.6 cm. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
    • 7.5 Israhel van Meckenem, The Fight over the Trousers, c. 1495, engraving, 16.8 × 10.9 cm, Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago.
    • 8.1 Jacob Backer, Woman with a Coin, c. 1636, oil on canvas, 64.5 × 56.5 cm. Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. Photo credit: Luisa Oliveira/José Paulo Ruas. © Direção-Geral do Património Cultural / Arquivo de Documentação Fotográfica (DGPC/ADF).
    • 8.2 Jacob van der Merck, Woman with a Coin, 1628-1658, oil on panel, 78 × 64 cm. Dieren (Rheden), art dealer D. Katz. Photo collection RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, The Hague.
    • 8.3 Hans Memling, Portrait of a Man with a Roman Coin, c. 1480, oil on panel, 23 x 31cm. Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Inv.no. 5. Photo: Dominique Provost, Collection KMSKA – Flemish Community (CC0). 
    • 8.4 Unknown designer, one ducat, Erfurt, Germany, 1634. Obverse, gold, 21.3 mm. Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
    • 8.5 Jacob Backer, Portrait of a Family Group with the Preaching of John the Baptist, c. 1637, oil on canvas, 140.6 × 151.1 cm. Sale Stuttgart (Nagel), 24–26 September 1979. Photo collection RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, The Hague.
    • 8.6 Crispijn van de Passe the Younger, title page, Spiegel van de Alder-schoonste Cortisanen (Mirror of the Most Beautiful Courtesans), 1631, engraving, 14 × 19.2 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. 
    • 8.7 Detail of Figure 8.1. Photo by the author. 
    • 9.1 Masaccio, Tribute Money, mid-1420s, fresco, 247 × 547 cm. Florence, Brancacci Chapel, S. Maria del Carmine. Photo: Steven Zucker.
    • 9.2 Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, Coronation of the Virgin, 1372–1373, tempera on panel, 350 × 190 cm. Florence, Galleria dell’Accademia. Photo: George R. Bent.
    • 9.3 Unknown designer, florin, Florence, after 1252. Obverse and reverse, gold, 19 mm diameter. New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Gallery.
    • 9.4 Lorenzo Ghiberti, St. Matthew, 1419–1423, bronze, 270 cm. Florence, Museo di Orsanmichele. Photo: Amy R. Bloch.
    • 10.1 Georges de La Tour, Payment of Taxes (Payment of Dues), c. 1618–1620, oil on canvas, 99 × 152 cm. Lviv, Lviv National Art Gallery. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 10.2 Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael, Adoration of the Shepherds, signed and dated 1607, oil on canvas, 35.5 × 48.5 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
    • 10.3 Marinus van Reymerswaele, The Parable of the Unjust Steward, c. 1540, oil on panel, 77 × 96.5 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
    • 10.4 Georges de La Tour, The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds, c. 1635, oil on canvas, 106 × 146 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre. Gérard Blot, RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.
    • 10.5 Jacques Callot, The Card Game, or the Prodigal Son, 1628, etching, 22 × 28 cm. Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum.
    • 10.6 Georges de La Tour, The Fortune Teller, c. 1630–1634, oil on canvas, 101.9 × 123.5 cm. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    • 10.7 Georges de La Tour, The Denial of Saint Peter, 1650, oil on canvas, 135.2 × 175.6 cm. Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 10.8 Georges de La Tour, The Dice Players, c. 1650, oil on canvas, 92.2 × 130.5 cm. Stockton-on-Tees, Preston Hall Museum. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • A.1 Kelli Rae Adams, Breaking Even, 2013, installation, porcelain, porcelain greenware, foodstuffs, canning jars, water, overall 15 × 20 × 40 ft. (4.6 × 6 × 12 m). Providence, RI, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Brown University. Photo © Kelli Rae
    • A.2 Kelli Rae Adams, Forever in Your Debt, 2019–, installation, wheel-thrown stoneware and collected coins, dimensions variable (each bowl approximately 15 cm diameter). Washington, DC, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Photo © Kelli Rae Adams.
    • A.3 Kelli Rae Adams, Beg, Borrow, Steal (detail), 2019, installation, US dollar bills, adhesive, gouache, water colour, graphite, each 140 × 178 cm. Photo © Kelli Rae Adams.
    • I Leonhard Beck, The Young Emperor Maximilian Visiting a Mint, c. 1514–1516, woodcut, dimensions unknown, for Marx Treitzsauerwein, Der Weißkunig, privately circulated, 1526. Illustration from the edition commercially published by Joseph Kurzboeck, Vienna
    • II Jost Amman (designer), Hartman Schopper (author), Monetarius, 1568, woodcut and letterpress, 148 × 79 mm (print 90 × 61), from Panoplia Omnium Illiberalium Mechanicarum (The Book of Trades), Frankfurt: Sigmund Feierabend, 1568. © Lebrecht Music & Arts
    • III Unknown artist, Group Portrait of Mintmaster Clemens van Eembrugge and His Companions, 1581, oil on panel, dimensions unknown. ’s-Heerenberg, Netherlands, Huis Bergh Castle.
    • IV Unknown Indo-Christian artist, The Virgin of Mount Potosí, c. 1740, oil on canvas, dimensions unknown. Potosí, Museo de la Casa Nacional de Moneda. Photo © Julie Laurent/Julyinireland (Flickr).
    • V Jacob Jonghelinck, medal of Philip II of Spain to commemorate the victory of Saint Quentin. Obverse: Philip II laureate, reverse: Saint Quentin with commemorative inscription, 1557, silver, 35 mm diameter. Location unknown. © Artokoloro/ Alamy Stock Ph
    • VI Frans Francken the Younger, The Cabinet of a Collector with Paintings, Shells, Coins, Fossils and Flowers, 1619, oil on panel, 85 × 56 cm. Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. Photo: Hugo Maertens, Collection KMSKA – Flemish Community (CC0).
    • 1.1 Maarten de Vos, The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint, datable to 1594, oil on panel, 142.5 × 187.5 cm. Antwerp, Museum Snijders Rockoxhuis (KBC Bank). Image © Museum Snijders&Rockoxhuis / KBC, Erwin Donvil.
    • 1.2 List of the Officers depicted in Maarten de Vos, The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint. Original lost, formatted as transcribed by the antiquarian Jan Baptist van der Straelen (1761–1847). From Beatrijs Wolters van der Wey, “Munters”, Document 1.
    • 1.3 Maarten de Vos, drawing for The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint, datable to c. 1594, pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk within brown-ink framing lines, 29.5 × 39.8 cm. Antwerp, Museum Snijders Rockoxhuis (KBC Bank). Image © Museum Snijders&Rocko
    • 1.4 Unknown designer, real of Philip II, Mint of the Duchy of Brabant, Antwerp, 1555–1576. Obverse and reverse, gold, dimensions unknown. Amsterdam, The National Numismatic Collection, managed by De Nederlandsche Bank, Inventory number NM-09654.
    • 1.5 Pieter Paul Rubens, sketch for The Arch of the Mint (front with Moneta), datable to c. 1635, oil on panel, 104 × 71 cm. Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. . Photo: Rik Klein Gotink.
    • 1.6 Pieter van der Borcht, Public Stage on the Market Place, 1594–1595, etching, 32.5 × 20.4 cm, from Joannes Bochius, Descriptio Publicae Gratulationis, Spectaculorum et Ludorum, in Adventu Sereniss. Principis Ernesti Archiducis Austriae, Antwerp: Ex Off
    • 1.7 Ioan Wouters, apprentice proof of competence. Obverse: Saint John the Baptist, reverse: moneyer’s balance, April 1614, silver, 25 mm diameter. Antwerp, Museum aan de Stroom. Photo: Tom van Ghent.
    • 1.8 Detail from Joost Amman (designer), Michael Manger (printmaker), Aigentliche Abbildung deß Gantzen Gewerbs der Löblichen Kauffmanschafft und Fürnehmsten Handelstadt (Allegory of Commerce, the Glory of Antwerp), 1585, woodcut and letterpress, 108.5 × 8
    • 1.9 Guillaum de Neve, boxed coin weights and hand balance for weighing silver coins, c. 1644, various media, dimensions unknown. Amsterdam, The National Numismatic Collection, managed by De Nederlandsche Bank.
    • 2.1 Romeyn de Hooghe (attributed), Allegory of Coinage, after 1681, oil on canvas, 135 × 178 × 8.3 cm, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Object No. SK-A-833.
    • 2.2 Unknown designer, duit, c. 1590–1596. Reverse, copper, 24 mm diameter. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Object No. NG-NM-7747-3.
    • 2.3 Unknown designer, guilder of the Dutch Republic, Mint of Holland, Dordrecht, 1682. Obverse, silver, 33 mm diameter. Object No. KOG-MP-1-1561B.
    • 2.4 Theodor de Bry, “Nigritae in Scrutandis Venis Metallicis/ ab Hispanis in Insulas” (Blacks Examining Metallic Veins/ from Spaniards on the Islands), Part 5 of Americae, Frankfurt am Main, 1595, engraving, image 15.9 × 19.5 cm (overall 34.5 × 23.5 cm).
    • 2.5 Romeyn de Hooghe, “Vastgestelde Geloof” (Established Faith), Chapter 36 of his Hieroglyphica oft Merkbeelden der Oude Volkeren, Amsterdam, 1735, etching, overall 26 × 19.2 cm. Courtesy of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at U
    • 2.6 Romeyn de Hooghe, “Van de Joodsche Stand by Christus Tyden” (On the Position of the Jews at the Time of Christ), Chapter 30 of his Hieroglyphica oft Merkbeelden der Oude Volkeren, Amsterdam, 1735, etching, overall 26 × 19.2 cm. Courtesy of The Rare Bo
    • 2.7 Jan Luyken, “De Munter” (The Coiner), from Casper Luyken and Jan Luyken, Spiegel van het Menselyk Bedryf, Amsterdam, 1704, etching, 14.3 ×  8.1 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Object No. RP-P-OB-44.532.
    • 2.8 Romeyn de Hooghe, “Peace before the Invasion of France,” Schouwburg der Nederlandse Verandering, Amsterdam, 1674, etching, 23.2 × 35 cm. Courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum, London, Inv. No. Y,1.80 
    • 2.9 Simon Fokke, Willem V Neemt Zitting als Bewindhebber bij de VOC (Willem V Sits as Director of the VOC), 1768, etching, 29.7 × 40.4 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. Object No. RP-P-OB-84.691.
    • 3.1 Andries Beeckman (attributed), A Market Stall in Batavia, c. 1650s–1660s, oil on canvas, 106 × 174.5 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 3.2 Julius Milheuser after Johannes Vinckboons, View of Batavia, 1619 – 1680, etching, 42.7 cm × 95.1 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. 
    • 3.3 Andries Beeckman, The Castle of Batavia, 1661, oil on canvas, 108 × 151.5 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. 
    • 3.4 Gabriel Metsu, A Woman Selling Poultry and Fish, 1656–1658, oil on canvas, 40.8 x 35.3 cm. Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Bpk Bildagentur/ Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel/Art Resource, NY. 
    • 3.5 Joachim Beuckelaer, Vegetable Seller, 1563, oil on panel, 112.2 × 163.5 cm. Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 3.6 Gabriel Metsu, Vegetable Market in Amsterdam, c. 1660, oil on canvas, 97 × 83 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre. Scala/Art Resource, NY.
    • 3.7 Marinus van Reymerswaele, Moneychanger and his Wife, 1538, oil on panel, 79 × 107 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. © Museo Nacional del Prado/Art Resource, NY.
    • 3.8 Quentin Metsys, Money Changer and his Wife, 1514, oil on panel, 74 × 68 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 4.1 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company, 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.2 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, lid), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.3 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, “Curaçao”), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.4 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, “St. George Delmina”), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.5 Jean Saint and François Thuret, box of the Dutch West India Company (detail, base), 1749, gold, tortoiseshell, velvet, 5.8 × 18 × 11.9 cm (h/l/w). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.6 Pieter Jannsen Bas, 12-guilder emergency coin issued by the Dutch West India Company during the Portuguese siege of Pernambuco. Obverse and reverse, 1645–1646, gold, 18 × 18 mm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 4.7 Unknown designer, medal struck by the Groningen chamber of the Dutch West India Company, 1683. Obverse and reverse, silver, 45 mm diameter. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
    • 5.1 Designer/Medalist unknown, “Old Coppernose” English Testoon, 1546-1551, silver and copper coin, dimensions unknown, Llantrisant, Pontyclun, UK. Image courtesy of the Royal Mint Museum.
    • 6.1 Unknown designer, shilling of Edward VI, r. 1550–1553. Obverse and reverse, silver, 31.8 mm diameter. New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Museum.
    • 6.2 John Taylor, A Shilling, or The Travailes of Twelve-Pence, frontispiece, 1621, woodcut and print, dimensions unknown. San Marino, CA, Huntington Library.
    • 7.1 Wenzel von Olmütz, Woman Weighing Coins, c. 1480, engraving, dimensions unknown. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
    • 7.2 Unknown designer, florin, Miltenberg, 1350–1353. Reverse and obverse, gold, dimensions unknown. Stuttgart, Münzkabinett, Landesmuseum Württemberg.
    • 7.3 Unknown designer, guilder, Mainz, 1491. Reverse and obverse, gold, 23 mm diameter. Berlin, Münzkabinett, Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin.
    • 7.4 Hans Schaur, Warning about Counterfeit Coins, 1482, hand-coloured woodcut, 22.2 × 15.6 cm. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
    • 7.5 Israhel van Meckenem, The Fight over the Trousers, c. 1495, engraving, 16.8 × 10.9 cm, Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago.
    • 8.1 Jacob Backer, Woman with a Coin, c. 1636, oil on canvas, 64.5 × 56.5 cm. Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. Photo credit: Luisa Oliveira/José Paulo Ruas. © Direção-Geral do Património Cultural / Arquivo de Documentação Fotográfica (DGPC/ADF).
    • 8.2 Jacob van der Merck, Woman with a Coin, 1628-1658, oil on panel, 78 × 64 cm. Dieren (Rheden), art dealer D. Katz. Photo collection RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, The Hague.
    • 8.3 Hans Memling, Portrait of a Man with a Roman Coin, c. 1480, oil on panel, 23 x 31cm. Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Inv.no. 5. Photo: Dominique Provost, Collection KMSKA – Flemish Community (CC0). 
    • 8.4 Unknown designer, one ducat, Erfurt, Germany, 1634. Obverse, gold, 21.3 mm. Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
    • 8.5 Jacob Backer, Portrait of a Family Group with the Preaching of John the Baptist, c. 1637, oil on canvas, 140.6 × 151.1 cm. Sale Stuttgart (Nagel), 24–26 September 1979. Photo collection RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, The Hague.
    • 8.6 Crispijn van de Passe the Younger, title page, Spiegel van de Alder-schoonste Cortisanen (Mirror of the Most Beautiful Courtesans), 1631, engraving, 14 × 19.2 cm. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum. 
    • 8.7 Detail of Figure 8.1. Photo by the author. 
    • 9.1 Masaccio, Tribute Money, mid-1420s, fresco, 247 × 547 cm. Florence, Brancacci Chapel, S. Maria del Carmine. Photo: Steven Zucker.
    • 9.2 Jacopo di Cione and Niccolò di Pietro Gerini, Coronation of the Virgin, 1372–1373, tempera on panel, 350 × 190 cm. Florence, Galleria dell’Accademia. Photo: George R. Bent.
    • 9.3 Unknown designer, florin, Florence, after 1252. Obverse and reverse, gold, 19 mm diameter. New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Gallery.
    • 9.4 Lorenzo Ghiberti, St. Matthew, 1419–1423, bronze, 270 cm. Florence, Museo di Orsanmichele. Photo: Amy R. Bloch.
    • 10.1 Georges de La Tour, Payment of Taxes (Payment of Dues), c. 1618–1620, oil on canvas, 99 × 152 cm. Lviv, Lviv National Art Gallery. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 10.2 Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael, Adoration of the Shepherds, signed and dated 1607, oil on canvas, 35.5 × 48.5 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
    • 10.3 Marinus van Reymerswaele, The Parable of the Unjust Steward, c. 1540, oil on panel, 77 × 96.5 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
    • 10.4 Georges de La Tour, The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds, c. 1635, oil on canvas, 106 × 146 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre. Gérard Blot, RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.
    • 10.5 Jacques Callot, The Card Game, or the Prodigal Son, 1628, etching, 22 × 28 cm. Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum.
    • 10.6 Georges de La Tour, The Fortune Teller, c. 1630–1634, oil on canvas, 101.9 × 123.5 cm. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
    • 10.7 Georges de La Tour, The Denial of Saint Peter, 1650, oil on canvas, 135.2 × 175.6 cm. Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • 10.8 Georges de La Tour, The Dice Players, c. 1650, oil on canvas, 92.2 × 130.5 cm. Stockton-on-Tees, Preston Hall Museum. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
    • A.1 Kelli Rae Adams, Breaking Even, 2013, installation, porcelain, porcelain greenware, foodstuffs, canning jars, water, overall 15 × 20 × 40 ft. (4.6 × 6 × 12 m). Providence, RI, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Brown University. Photo © Kelli Rae
    • A.2 Kelli Rae Adams, Forever in Your Debt, 2019–, installation, wheel-thrown stoneware and collected coins, dimensions variable (each bowl approximately 15 cm diameter). Washington, DC, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Photo © Kelli Rae Adams.
    • A.3 Kelli Rae Adams, Beg, Borrow, Steal (detail), 2019, installation, US dollar bills, adhesive, gouache, water colour, graphite, each 140 × 178 cm. Photo © Kelli Rae Adams.
    • Acknowledgments
    • Introduction: Embodying Value
      • Joanna Woodall with Natasha Seaman