Why pieces of eight

And yet the coin was used all over the globe because it was minted to a more pure silver than other coins. Many countries -even those not under Spanish control- used the Spanish dollar at various times. Because the purity was so consistent and because so many of them were minted, they became a common currency in Australia for a time and were quite popular in the American Colonies as well.

In some territories a supplemental stamp was added to mark them as the local currency unbeknownst to the Spanish. American colonists would use the Spanish dollar alongside British currency, as it was against the law for them to create their own money and coins from England were not plentiful. It is this divisibility into 8 which caused the silver coins to be named "pieces of eight". Since the leeuwendaalder and the 8-reales piece were of very similar size, purity and value, they began to be commonly referred to by the same name.

By far the leading specie coin circulating in North America was the Spanish silver dollar, defined as consisting of grains of pure silver. 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 because 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.

Before the American Revolution and possibly one contributing factor to the Revolution there was a chronic shortage of British currency in Britain's colonies. Trade was often conducted with Spanish dollars that had been obtained by dealing with Caribbean pirates. Spanish coinage was legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of discontinued the practice.

The pricing of equities on U. One last thing — Look closely at the back of a Spanish eight-reales piece.

See the two pillars on the back? They are supposed to represent the Pillar of Hercules — the two chunks of land that frame the Straights of Gibraltar, gateway to the Mediterranean Sea.

In fact, it is believed to be the inspiration for the sign for American currency. Instead, they resorted to using whatever coinage they could get their hands on.

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