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{{Short description|
{{Redirect|Pieces of eight|
{{Use American English|date=February 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
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The '''Spanish dollar''', also known as the '''piece of eight''' ({{lang-es|'''
Because the Spanish dollar was widely used in Europe,
The Spanish dollar was the coin upon which the original [[United States dollar]] was based (at {{convert|0.7735|ozt|g|disp=or}}), and it remained [[legal tender]] in the United States until the [[Coinage Act of 1857]]. Many other currencies around the world, such as the [[Japanese yen]] and the [[Yuan (currency)|Chinese yuan]], were initially based on the Spanish dollar and other 8-real coins.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-silver-way-explains-how-the-old-mexican-dollar-changed-20410|title='The Silver Way' Explains How the Old Mexican Dollar Changed the World|first=Salvatore|last=Babones|date=30 April 2017|website=The National Interest|access-date=15 April 2019|archive-date=1 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001020247/https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-silver-way-explains-how-the-old-mexican-dollar-changed-20410|url-status=live}}</ref>
The term [[peso]] was used in Spanish to refer to this denomination, and it became the basis for many of the currencies in the former Spanish
==History==
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===Etymology===
In the 16th century, Count [[Hieronymus Schlick]] of [[Bohemia]] began minting a silver coin known as a {{lang|de|[[Joachimsthaler]]}}
===Europe and colonial North America===
The {{lang|de|Joachimsthaler}} weighed {{convert|451
The Netherlands also introduced its own dollars in the 16th century: the Burgundian Cross Thaler (''Bourgondrische Kruisdaalder''), the German-inspired ''[[Rijksdaalder]]'', and the Dutch liondollar (''leeuwendaalder''). The latter coin was used for Dutch trade in the Middle East, in the Dutch East Indies and West Indies, and in the [[Thirteen Colonies]] of North America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Lion-Dollar.intro.html|title=Lion Dollar - Introduction|website=coins.nd.edu|access-date=29 May 2021|archive-date=10 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710214930/https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Lion-Dollar.intro.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
For the English North American colonists, however, the Spanish peso or "piece of eight" has always held first place, and this coin was also called the "dollar" as early as 1581. After the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of American Independence]], the [[United States dollar]] was introduced in 1792 at par with this coin at 371.25 grains = 0.7735 troy ounces = 24.0566 g. [[Alexander Hamilton]] arrived at these numbers based on a treasury assay of the average fine silver content of a selection of worn Spanish dollars.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', entry on "dollar", definition 2 ("The English name for the peso or piece of eight (i.e. eight {{lang|es|reales}}), formerly current in Spain and the Spanish American colonies").</ref>
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===Mexico===
[[File:Spanish_Dollar,_minted_in_Mexico_City_1809.jpg|thumb|left|Spanish Real de a Ocho coin (sometimes referred to as a
Following independence in 1821, Mexican coinage of silver reales and gold escudos followed that of Spanish lines until [[decimalization]] and the introduction of the peso worth 8 reales or 100 centavos. It continued to be minted to Spanish standards throughout the 19th century, with the peso at 27.07 g of 0.9028 fine silver, and the escudo at 3.383 g of 0.875 fine gold. The [[Mexican peso]] or 8-real coin continued to be a popular international trading coin throughout the 19th century.
After 1918, the peso was reduced in size and fineness, with further reductions in the 1940s and 1950s. However, 2- (1921), 5- (1947) and 10-peso (1955)
===Australia===
After the [[colony of New South Wales]] was founded in Australia in 1788, it ran into the problem of a lack of coinage, particularly since trading vessels took coins out of the colony in exchange for their cargo. In 1813, Governor [[Lachlan Macquarie]] made creative use of £10,000 in Spanish dollars sent by the British government. To make it difficult to take the coins out of the colony, and to double their number, the centres of the coins were punched out. The punched centre, known as the "dump", was valued at 15 [[British One Penny coin (pre-decimal)|pence]], and the outer rim, known as the "[[holey dollar]]", was worth five [[Shilling (British coin)|shilling]]s. This was indicated by overstamping the two new coins. The obverse of the holey dollar was stamped the words "New South Wales" and the date, 1813, and the reverse with the words "five shillings". The obverse of the dump was stamped with a crown, the words "New South Wales" and the date, 1813, and the reverse with the words "fifteen pence". The mutilated coins became the first official currency produced specifically for circulation in Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=National Museum of Australia - Holey dollar|url=https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/holey-dollar|
===United States===
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<blockquote>
By far the leading specie coin circulating in America was the Spanish silver dollar, defined as consisting of 387 grains of pure silver. The dollar was divided into "pieces of eight," or "bits," each consisting of one-eighth of a dollar. Spanish dollars came into the North American colonies through lucrative trade with the West Indies. The Spanish silver dollar had been the world's outstanding coin since the early 16th century, and was spread partially by dint of the vast silver output of the Spanish colonies in Latin America. More important, however, was that the Spanish dollar, from the 16th to the 19th century, was relatively the most stable and least debased coin in the Western world.
<ref name=Rothbard>[[Murray Rothbard|Rothbard, Murray]], [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard260.html Commodity Money in Colonial America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618045225/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard260.html |date=18 June 2015 }}, ''[[LewRockwell.com]]''</ref>
</blockquote>
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===Asia===
[[File:1888 México 8 Reals Trade Coin Silver.jpg|thumb|left|1888 Mexican dollar with Chinese "chop" marks]]Long tied to the lore of [[pirate|piracy]], "pieces of eight" were manufactured in the [[Hispanic America|Spanish Americas]] and [[Spanish treasure fleet|transported]] in bulk back to Spain, making them a very tempting target for seagoing pirates. In the [[Far East]], it also arrived in the form of the [[Philippine peso]] in the [[Philippines]] as part of the [[Spanish East Indies]] of the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish colonial empire]] through the [[Manila galleon]]s that transported [[Spanish dollar#Mexico|Mexican silver peso]] to [[Manila]] in the [[Manila galleon|Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Babones|first=Salvatore|date=April 30, 2017|title='The Silver Way' Explains How the Old Mexican Dollar Changed the World|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-silver-way-explains-how-the-old-mexican-dollar-changed-20410|website=The National Interest|access-date=15 April 2019|archive-date=1 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001020247/https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-silver-way-explains-how-the-old-mexican-dollar-changed-20410|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|year=1900|title=Report of the Philippine commission to the President, January 31, 1900, page 142-149, Part IX: The Currency|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tn7hAAAAMAAJ&q=report+of+the+philippine+commission+january+1900+part+ix+currency&pg=PR7|access-date=9 November 2021|archive-date=10 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240210090430/https://books.google.com/books?id=tn7hAAAAMAAJ&q=report+of+the+philippine+commission+january+1900+part+ix+currency&pg=PR7#v=snippet&q=report%20of%20the%20philippine%20commission%20january%201900%20part%20ix%20currency&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> where it would be exchanged for Philippine and [[Chinese ceramics|Chinese goods]],<ref>{{citation|author=[[Charles C. Mann]]|title=1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IqaMEWNvsJQC|pages=123–163|year=2011|publisher=Random House Digital|isbn=978-0-307-59672-7|access-date=9 November 2021|archive-date=18 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218081203/https://books.google.com/books?id=IqaMEWNvsJQC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Brook|first=Timothy|title=The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuMcHWWbXqMC|pages=205|year=1998|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-21091-3|authorlink=Timothy Brook|access-date=9 November 2021|archive-date=18 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218081156/https://books.google.com/books?id=YuMcHWWbXqMC|url-status=live}}</ref> since silver was the only foreign commodity China would accept. In Oriental trade, Spanish dollars were often stamped with Chinese characters known as "chop marks" which indicated that particular coin had been [[Metallurgical assay|assay]]ed by a well-known merchant and determined to be genuine. The specifications of the Spanish dollar became a standard for trade in the Far East, with later Western powers issuing [[trade dollar]]s, and colonial currencies such as the [[Hong Kong dollar]], to the same specifications.
The first [[Chinese yuan]] coins had the same specification as a Spanish dollar, leading to a continuing equivalence in some respects between the names "yuan" and "dollar" in the Chinese language. Other currencies also derived from the dollar include the [[Japanese yen]], [[Korean won]], [[Philippine peso]], [[Malaysian ringgit]], [[French Indochinese piastre]], etc. since it was widely traded across the [[Far East]] in the [[East Indies]] and the [[East Asia]].<ref>
Contemporary names used for Spanish dollars in Qing
=== Spanish dollar [[countermark]]ed in other countries ===
<gallery>
File:CeilanI.jpg|[[Sri Lanka]]
File:Birmania.jpg|[[Burma]]
File:Arabia Saudí.jpg|[[Saudi Arabia]]
File:Tailandia.jpg|[[Thailand]]
File:Zanzíbar.jpg|[[Zanzibar]]
File:Bahrein.jpg|[[Bahrain]]
File:Sudán.jpg|[[Sudan]]
File:India portuguesa.jpg|[[India]]
File:Timormon.jpg|[[Timor]]
File:Ras al Jaima.jpg|[[United Arab Emirates]]
</gallery>
==Fiction==
<!-- See [[WP:IPC]] for guidance as to the type of content that should go here. We don't care about the fine points of plot, only what's relevant to the topic of the article. Resist adding trivia. -->
In modern pop culture and fiction, pieces of eight are most often associated with [[Pirates in popular culture|the popular notion of pirates]].
* In [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s ''[[Treasure Island]]'', [[Long John Silver]]'s parrot
* In the film ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End]]'' the Pirate Lords must meet together by presenting the "Nine Pieces of Eight", since these Pieces were used to seal the goddess [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]] in [[Tia Dalma|her human form]] by the first Brethren Court.
*''[[Pieces of Eight]]'' is the eighth studio album and second concept album by [[Styx (band)|Styx]], released on 1 September 1978.
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s
==See also==
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090214020351/http://ebacson.sky.vn/archives/345 Hispan collections] (archived 14 February 2009)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090214014034/http://ebacson.sky.vn/archives/352 HISPAN 1776] (archived 14 February 2009)
* [http://www.columnarios.com/ Information on Columnarios] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224084722/http://columnarios.com/ |date=24 December 2018 }}
* [http://www.sedwickcoins.com/articles/colonialcoinage.htm The Colonial Coinage of Spanish America:]'' An introduction by Daniel Frank Sedwick''
* [https://www.money.org/collector/user_74883/blog/the-8-reales-the-history-of-the-first-international-currency-that-gave-rise-to-almost-all-the-world-39-s-legal-tender-cu The 8 reales: the history of the 1st international coin that gave rise to almost all the world's currencies.]
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