Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:10:D.G. HISPAN ET IND REX (Alan Sinder)

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Enoch ponders about the universal currency of the new 18th century -- he examines a "Spanish" silver coin marked "D.G. HISPAN ET IND REX" (Deo gratia Hispaniae et Indiarum Rex, "By the grace of God, king of Spain and the Indies") that he identifies as "a piece of eight." Universal currency was 'octal' and as such the Piece of Eight was clearly marked with the number "8" -- and for a while even the U.S. Dollar would have 8 pie slices. "2 bits" was a quarter to the parents of the "Baby Boomers." Therefore, the coin fingered by Enoch was an 8 reale coin cut in half.

Authored entries

TBA

D.G. HISPAN ET IND REX

"I hope you've enough silver?"

Two hemispheres are surrounded by the Pillars of Hercules

A Piece of Eight was a Spanish or Spanish American coin that was roughly equivalent to today's dollar coin; However, unlike today's American dollar equaling 100 pennies, a Piece of Eight was worth eight of Spain's small common denomination -- the Reale (Spanish real, "royal"). Mexico continued to use a monetary system similar to the old Spanish Piece of Eight well into the 19th Century. In Spain, real continued to be used as a name for the coin worth 25 céntimos of peseta, until inflation put it off circulation. Spanish money was easy to spend because it was made of gold or silver, its equivalent worth was easily transferable to coins of the English Empire. Nor was it odd to say "pieces of" to describe coins in the Baroque Period.

The coins would be cut up or cut in half. Because the coins were made of pure silver, cutting them into pieces did little to decrease their value. The Piece of Eight was silver coin and the Doubloon (Spanish doblón) is a "gold piece".

A Chart of Monetary Worth


Spanish Coinage	Its value in Reales	Its value in Pieces of Eight	Its value in Doubloons		1 Reale	1 Reale	1/8 Piece of Eight	1/128 Doubloon		2 Reale	2 Reale	1/4 Piece of Eight	1/64 Doubloon		4 Reale	4 Reale	1/2 Piece of Eight	1/32 Doubloon		8 Reale	8 Reale	1 Piece of Eight	1/16 Doubloon		1 Escudo ("shield")	16 Reale	2 Pieces of Eight	1/8 Doubloon		2 Escudoes	32 Reale	4 Pieces of Eight	1/4 Doubloon		4 Escudoes	64 Reale	8 Pieces of Eight	1/2 Doubloon

A doubloon was one ounce of gold and a 8 reale coin was one ounce of silver. An ounce of silver was valued at the rate of 1/16th that of gold. Spanish money was originally hammered into shape. The silver and gold was melted down and then poured out into thin strips. As the metal strips cooled they were beaten to desired thickness by hand. Then the coins were cut out to an approximate size. After this, the metal blank was placed in coin die (or stamp) and the top coin die was placed on top of the strip. Then the minter would strike the die with a hammer and the face and obverse (heads and tails) of the coin would be imbedded in the soft metal. After the coin was struck it would be weighed again and if it were overweight, small amounts of the metal would be nipped off. Later innovations were the coin press, the metal was placed between two dies and squeezed cutting off the excess metal and making all the coins look pretty much the same.