MARK OF JOHN HULL AND ROBERT SANDERSON, BOSTON, CIRCA 1660

John Hull (c.1624-1683) and Robert Sanderson (c.1608-1693), the first working silversmiths in North America, became the Colonies' first mint masters when the Massachusetts Bay Colony established a mint in 1652. In that year, they established a partnership producing silver objects as well as coins, most notably the famous "Pine Tree" shilling. Trained in England, Sanderson moved to America for religious reasons, while Hull was brought to Massachusetts as a boy by his staunchly Puritan parents in 1635. Hull was a founder of the Old South Church.