pieces of eight
Spanish silver coins
Pieces of eight were Spanish silver coins worth eight reales, widely circulated as international currency from the 16th through 19th centuries.
The name comes from the practice of cutting the coin into eight wedge-shaped pieces to make change, giving rise to the American terms "two bits" for a quarter dollar.
These coins appear frequently in pirate lore and adventure fiction, where treasure chests overflow with them.
The parrot squawked "pieces of eight" from its perch.
- specieMoney in metal form
- doubloonHistoric Spanish gold currency
- coinageInvented term or currency
- Spanish MainColonial Caribbean coast and sea
- buried treasureValuables interred for safekeeping
X marks the spot · treasure fleets · pirate treasure · yo ho ho · escudo · mint · thalers · currency · bullion · privateering · Jolly Roger · antique coins · Spanish galleon · pirates · silver · swashbuckler · walk the plank · buccaneers
- coinspennies, leu, silver eagles, nickels, ban
- Piratespirate, buccaneer, corsair, corsairs, privateers
- Caribbean piratespirates, buccaneers, Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, privateers
- pirate talkahoy, arr, argh, aye, aye aye
- currency historygold standard, silver standard, bimetallism, fiat money, fiat currency
- Money Historymoney, coins, currency, coinage, gold coins
pieces of eightgold doubloons
Historic Spanish currency
gold bullion · gold coins · gold bars · gold ingots · ducats
pieces of eightdigital currency
Currency stored electronically
cryptocurrency · electronic money · credit card · fiat currency · dollars
pieces of eightwhole
Full and undivided
complete · entire · unbroken · indivisible
piece, pieces, eight, apiece, Spanish dollar, pieced, peso, piecemeal, piecework