Say you were an average inhabitant of the colony and had five shillings tucked away. If that were a modern day savings account how much would you have?
At the time, they were using the 62 shillings per pound, and a penny weighed 7 23/31 grains. A shilling was 12 pence.
5 shilling = 60 pence.
60p = about 464.52 grains.
464.62 grains = 1.061989oz
Current silver price is $16.35 an ounce, so that would make 5 shillings worth about $17.36.
Isnt there some odd story about 1652 pine tree shillings, or them printing 1652 as the year for several years to avoid taxes or something? I might be making this up, but its probably relevent to the topic if im not.
Are you asking what the purchasing power of 5 shillings be, as in, adjusted for inflation, how much would 5 shillings be worth in today's dollars?
Or, are you asking how much would you have today if you had put 5 shillings into an interest bearing account in 1659?
Much of this would depend on the interest rates being charged which were not standardized for much/most of that time period and if you could exchange the shillings for the dollar and what that would be valued at. Essentially there are too many unknown variables to give you a clearer answer.