Antique 1700s Authentic Pieces Of Eight Spanish Reales Coin Slice Pendant .999

Description: Antique 1700s Authentic Pieces Of Eight Spanish Reales Coin Slice Pendant .999. This coin slice fragment was minted in the 1700s. Measures 25mm x 22mm. Someone long ago worked the coin into a pendant and even created a bird's head to the left of the hole. We don't know the history of this piece but given it's a fragment rather than a full coin it's likely that it was used in the American colonies as currency in addition to British coins (see below). The Spanish minted coins in Bolivia (and elsewhere using silver from Bolivia) as it was the highest purity silver available at .999 percent. Measures approximately 22mm x 18mm.Weighs 3.0 grams.Adapted from online sources: minted for over 300 years, Spanish Reales were the world's premiere trade coin ... and were the coin of choice for kings and pirates alike. Back then, in the 1600s and 1700s, coins were valued by their actual weight in gold or silver, not just on what they looked like. Spanish coins were preferred over other currency because they had a milled, or patterned edge, which prevented dishonest traders from shaving slivers off of the coins without being detected.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. Instead, they resorted to using whatever coinage they could get their hands on. The most common coin used during this time was the Spanish silver dollar. Unlike today, cutting money was not illegal. In fact, it was expected that to make change people literally cut the coins into eight pieces, or “bits.” Hence, the British called the Spanish dollar a “Piece of Eight” (a coin worth eight pieces, or bits), and something valued at “two bits” cost a quarter of a dollar.Americans used foreign money until 1857 when the United States government passed a law forbidding it.Given that the Spanish dollar was popular around the world and particularly prevalent in the Spanish and American colonies (where pirates intercepted ships loaded with cargo being traded between the New World and Old World), pirates certainly were quite familiar with these coins.

Price: 199.99 USD

Location: College Park, Maryland

End Time: 2024-08-20T17:37:53.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD