1780 Piece of Eight


Front of a cut 2 Reales (Quarter Dollar)	Reverse of a cut 2 Reales (Quarter Dollar)
Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar, all for preservation, stand up and holler. The Real deal... the Spanish Milled Dollar was worth 8 Reales and it's fractional denominations of one-half, one, two, and four Reales coins were commonly referred to as "pieces of eight". Each Reales or piece of eight, was worth 12 1/2 cents and was known in this country as a "bit". The 178? two real Spanish quarter dollar (two bits) pictured above was crudely cut in half to represent a piece of eight (one bit). It was found along with a one-half Spanish Reales coin at the site of an old colonial wagon station in Fairfax, Virginia. Due to a chronic shortage of "small change" throughout America's colonial period, the practice of cutting quarter, half and whole Spanish dollars into "bits" was commonplace. The cut coin also shows little wear, so it was probably lost after being in circulation for a relatively short period of time. This artifact along with other evidence recovered from the site indicates colonial travelers were using the wagon station during the 1780's or early 1790's. It has been estimated that half of the coins in colonial America were Spanish Reales. In 1645 the state of Virginia became the first state to officially adopt the Spanish Reales as it's standard currency. In 1784 Thomas Jefferson, who at the time represented Virginia in the House of Representatives, advocated using the Spanish dollar as the basis for our new nation's currency. Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington showed their support for the Spanish decimal system in a report to Congress where Jefferson wrote... " The most easy ratio of multiplication and division is that of ten. George Washington referred to it as 'a measure, which in my opinion, has become indispensably necessary.' " The date on this "piece of eight' is also significant since it was in circulation at the same time of Jefferson's proposal. At that time the United States had yet to establish it's own monetary system, so any foreign coin of copper, silver or gold was accepted as currency. Nine years later, the Spanish dollar was officially made legal tender by an Act of Congress on February 9, 1793. It remained as legal tender until it was demonetized on February 21, 1857. Once smaller silver coins became widely available during the 1800's, the crudely cut pieces of eight were melted down into silver bullion or exchanged for newly minted coins. Coin collectors of the period apparently showed little interest in collecting cut pieces of eight since the date and other identifying characteristics were often missing. Consequently, most surviving examples of this American tradition are generally found only at archeological sites. To this day we still use the Spanish decimal system in the valuation of our currency. Two bits still means a quarter dollar...