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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 1839738, member: 112&quot;]Ehhhh - the question is arguable. If you read contemporary text the terms piece of two or piece of four are never used, only pieces of eight is used. The 2 and 4 reales coins were called just that, 2 or 4 reales. The 8 reales coins however were commonly called pieces of eight. In other words, a single item, 1 coin - not a coin cut up into pieces. Some folks think that the term came to be because they were cut up into pieces to make smaller change. But that is not the case at all. Individual coins were coins were called pieces, the word coin or coins itself was rarely ever used. If someone had an 8 escudos, or an 8 reales, the item (the coin) was called a Spanish gold piece, or a piece of 8. Here in the US the 8 reales was most commonly called a Spanish dollar.</p><p><br /></p><p>But there are those who argue that terms pieces of 4 or pieces of 2 did see some limited use in later years, but only long after the coins themselves ceased being used.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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