Pieces of Eight

Here ya go GD figured id make a new section... I dont know much about this coin as I type this im trying to find more information on it... I know its called a more technical or better name but its also called Pieces of Eight which is what I call it because well... I dont know the other name for it ... If you can find any info on it id be glad... I also know its not the greatest specimen but I like it

feel free to deliberate over it and give me the background if you will since you seem to know your stuff

Click Me (Big Load)

Mach

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Forgot to mention the Obverse seems to have some deep cuts? in it one resembles an H another resembles a 10 one resembles an I or L not sure which could even be an upside down T and another resembles a O or 0 any Signifigance???

Mach

 

It is nice of you to ask us. It makes me wonder if "we" should just meet behind the scenes in private email and decide not to answer questions like this, but just tell you what books to read.

You coin is very easy to identify from the Date and the Minter's Initials.
If you want to collect world coins, you need a STANDARD CATALOG OF WORLD COINS. You can find one new for less than this coin costs. Used editions from the late 1980s and early 1990s are cheaper still and perhaps more useful.

The "deep cuts" are called "chop marks." Finding out about them will take more work, and an exact answer may not be found, but a general answer will probably meet your needs.

Actually answering your questions would be doing your homework for you. When "test time" comes, you'll fail. If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach him to fish, he can feed himself for life. Let us know what you find out about your coin.

Michael

 

Well, it looks like I got here before Doug, so I'll just jump right in.

Right on! You have a Spanish 8 Reales, also known as a Pillar Dollar and Pieces of Eight, minted at the famous Mexico City Mint. (Actually the "pieces" refers to the sections into which many of these coins were cut - origin of the slang term "two bits" for a quarter dollar.)

It is either KM#106.2 or KM#106.2a, which both carry the same values in Krause. The only difference is that the former is made of .9030 silver and the latter is only .8960, so its melt value is about 4¢ less.

The obverse legend translates as "Charles III by the Grace of God" and the reverse as "King of Spain and India", followed by the mint mark (small o over M), denomination, and the initials of the Mintmasters, Francisco Araace Cobos and Mariano Rodriguez. Krause lists no mintage figures, but undoubtedly there were lots and lots of them, as the Mexico City Mint was very prolific.

Value in the 18th Century 3rd Ed. for is $25 VG, $40 F, and up to $150 XF.

The Spanish 8 Reales was one of the silver coins widely circulated throughout Asia in the 18th and 19th Centuries, where they were treated as bullion rather than currency, and traded based on weight. The mark at the nape of the neck is definitely what is known as a "chopmark", placed there by some merchant (probably Chinese) as an authentication of its value. The other marks are very probably also chops. It is not unusual to find a trade dollar (small "t" to include the entire mix of coins serving that function) with a dozen or more chops from different merchants who handled it.

 

nice coin... it's not pieces of eight yet, technically.