A central component of colonial history – and of numismatic theory – is how economy and money, and other manifestations of the everyday and hands-on, are part and parcel of the establishment and negotiation of power structures. Money, understood both as “means of exchange” and “means of payment”, plays an important part in the introduction of new practices, value standards, material realities and ways of thinking. Imposing one’s own modes on others is also a way to take control and assert superiority. Commodification processes – the ways that subjects are turned into objects (cf. Appadurai, 1986; Kopytoff, 1986; Thomas, 1991; Weiner, 1992; LiPuma, 1999) – may have a strong impact on power relations and traditional values in the meetings and interactions between the coloniser and the colonised. Money, goods and the prospect of profit may be strong motivations for the establishment or growth of a colony, alongside political, religious or other objectives. In the study of major cultural-historical processes, like colonial projects, means of payment – in particular coinage and related object types – are a prime source. It is therefore surprising that such a key instrument for control is not often discussed from this perspective, and that numismatic scholarship has taken so long to enter into the colonial and post-colonial debates.