Propositionally past-casting a view of the site of Potosí silver mine (the largest silver mine in history), on the Cerro Rico mountain, Bolivia, as it may have appeared just before silver was discovered in the 1500s.
Amongst a grove of now-rare queñua trees (polylepis tarapacana) is a grouping of flags depicting a galena crystal, the silver/zinc/lead form of mineral load that was mined at Potosí. The mountain dreams of its future.
Much of the silver used in Spanish silver dollars across the 16-18th centuries was from Potosí. Some fo these coins were transported to Sydney, where they were converted to the first local colonial currency ‘holey dollars’.