No Master

Sign here and you are done being told.

That was the offer, and for about forty years it was real. Walk off a merchant ship where you were beaten for the pace of your work and paid whatever the owner decided, sign a paper, and take an equal share. Vote on where the ship sails. Vote on who captains it, and vote him out if he stops earning it.

The articles were written down and every man signed. What you get if you lose a leg. What you get if you lose an eye. Nobody above you deciding it later.

The flag went up so the other ship could count and surrender, and most did. That was the arrangement — no quarter, announced up front, so the choice was theirs.

Then the crew was ashore with a full purse and no master, and every man there had picked this over a wage.

Skull over crossed bones, poured solid in a single piece. The eyes dark, the bones rough where they cross.

No master. Equal share. He signed for it.

Specifications

• Solid .999 fine silver, hand poured
• 35mm tall × 27mm wide
• Hand-oxidized recesses, polished high points
• 4mm black braided leather cord, 22", gunmetal magnetic barrel clasp
• Signed Certificate of Authenticity
• Poured and finished in Northfield, Vermont

Worn for a lifetime. Passed to the next.