I have become interested in the history and nomenclature surrounding the "Pieces of Eight", AKA "Spanish Milled Dollar", AKA Spanish 8 Reales Coin, AKA Spanish Peso. I read that they were sometimes cut in halves, quarters, and eighths to make change, and that has something to do with the name "Pieces of Eight." But a whole 8 Reale coin is called a "Piece of Eight" so does that mean that multiple 8 Reale coins are "Pieces of Eight" or are pieces of an 8 Reale coin "Pieces of Eight" or both? I see a few examples of cut-up Pieces of Eight sold online, but not many, and they are outrageously expensive. Where would be the best place to find examples for a reasonable cost?
This gentleman is been recommended to me by a very happy returning customer and fellow member here. He generally has a large selection of the Cob pieces of 8, along with various coins from shipwrecks and the like. http://www.sedwickcoins.com/ Hope this helps you find what you want a reasonable price.
I might be wrong but from my understanding the "piece of 8" refers to the whole 8 reals coin. In the same wording as a "piece of silver" , a denomination divided into 8 units. The 8 reales was cut to make 8 pieces.
The situation back then was the same as it has been throughout recorded history, that being that the small change, the smaller denominations, are the coins that used the most. It's still that way today, they make way, way, more cents than they do any other coin. The piece of eight was the old world dollar coin. The 4 reales was the half dollar, the 2 reales the quarter, the one reale the dime, and the 1/2 reale the nickel. The cents were all maravedis, copper coins. But back then, they never made enough of the smaller coins. The reason for that is pretty simple, the mints, including the colonial mints, could make what they were ordered to make by Royal decree. And the King who issued the Royal decrees was only interested in putting money in his own pocket, not in having the coins minted that really needed minting. And since it was a lot easier, and cheaper, to mint the large denomination coins, and since it was a lot easier bookkeeping wise to mint the larger denomination coins (the King had to count his money once it was sent to him after all), he always ordered a larger percentage of large coins to be minted. Probably 90%, or more, of the entire mintage was always shipped to him. The coins did not stay where they were minted in the New World. The King always got his Royal Fifth no matter what. In other words all gold, silver, and copper, that was mined was turned into coins. And 20% of those coins always went directly to the King as his personal money. The majority of the rest of the coins were shipped back to Spain so the King could use it in the Kingdom, to pay his debts, pay his armies, build ships, etc etc. So, when the people in the New World ran out of the small denomination coins that they needed for everyday commerce, they would simply cut up the big coins into smaller pieces. And since it is pretty easy to cut something into halves, and then halve it again, and then again,instead of trying to cut it into 5ths or 6ths, well you get the idea. And since the piece of 8 (an 8 reales) was being cut up into equal sized pieces, you get the pieces of 8.
