"And here are the iron clamps.
How well it was mended!" When they had all sufficiently examined the broken leg, Grandfather told them a story about Captain John Hull and the Pine-tree Shillings.
The Captain John Hull aforesaid was the mint-master of Massachusetts, and coined all the money that was made there.

This was a new line of business, for, in the earlier days of the colony, the current coinage consisted of gold and silver money of England, Portugal, and Spain.
These coins being scarce, the people were often forced to barter their commodities instead of selling them.
For instance, if a man wanted to buy a coat, he perhaps exchanged a bear-skin for it.

If he wished for a barrel of molasses, he might purchase it with a pile of pine boards.

Musket-bullets were used instead of farthings.

The Indians had a sort of money, called wampum, which was made of clam-shells; and this strange sort of specie was likewise taken in payment of debts by the English settlers.