# Value of a Piece of Eight **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2023, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978 "2023-06-23T07:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978/21 "2024-10-05T16:37:49Z")
> [@King-Monke](#): > > What actually makes a Piece of Eight ‘real’? 7 more of them. Actually same as any other government issue coin. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2024, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978/22 "2024-10-06T00:26:13Z")
I think that the Spanish “real” means “royal”, so it was issued by the Monarch. I assume that is the origin of the Queen/King appearing on British (and some Canadian) coins and bills. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2024, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978/23 "2024-10-08T11:46:44Z")
One little factoid which hasn’t been enphasized is that the American dollar was deliberately defined as the average weight of the Spanish dollars (“dollar” = “piece of eight”) that were then the commonest valuable coin used in America. The U.S. wanted to mint its own dollars, but they could circulate alongside Spanish dollars with little confusion. (Spanish dollars varied widely in weight but as long as a coin was _accepted_ it had to have (by definition!) nearly “acceptable” silver content. This doesn’t explain why the precise amount of pure silver (371.25 grains or about 24.06 grams) was chosen. After all, variation in Spanish pieces of eight allowed nowhere near 5 digits of significance! Explanation: Hamilton observed that 24.75 grains of gold was the market value of the silver dollar, and fixed 15:1 as the approximate gold:silver market price ratio. From this, simple arithmetic dictated the dollar’s silver content. (Weights refer to PURE metals, with the weight of alloying metals subtracted from coins’ actual weight.) Spain had a higher 16:1 gold:silver ratio, so Gresham’s Law caused gold to flee. (Some think, probably wrongly, that this was deliberate on Hamilton’s part.) 480 grains per troy ounce ÷ 24.75 = $19.394 was therefore the official price of gold until 1833 (though selling at a 12% premium at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, with the premium in London much higher). In 1834 the U.S. ratio was changed to 16:1, reversing the Gresham flow and making $20.67 the official price of gold. Before long, discoveries of big new silver mines made bimetallism untenable and major countries all adopted a gold standard. As recently as 1932, one troy ounce of gold could be purchased in New York City for $20.67. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2024, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978/24 "2024-10-08T11:57:20Z")
I got this from Quora, but the info is 5 years old: _If the coin is too worn to tell the date the coin may sell for as little as $50. Pieces of Eight in very good condition average about $300 (I saw hundreds of the at the NY INC show in January for that price). Rare and excellent specimens can sell for over $2,000._ ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978/25 "2024-10-08T16:39:19Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > Hamilton… fixed 15:1 as the approximate gold:silver market price ratio. " In 1834 the U.S. ratio was changed to 16:1" I just wanted to point out that the gold/silver ratio lately has been floating around 85:1 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978/26 "2024-10-08T16:42:13Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > … > Rare and excellent specimens can sell for over $2,000. Thanks, but that’s not the question. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I always wonder, just how much was one of them worth **at the time**. How much could a single coin purchase? Was it a day’s wages? A month? An hour? > … > There are thousands of web sites telling me the history, showing various designs, or offering to sell me one. That’s not what I want. To be clear, I’m not asking for the **current** value. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978/27 "2024-10-08T17:05:11Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > I always wonder, just how much was one of them worth **at the time**. It’s formal name was the **Real de vellón** , and its value was finally fixed in 1737 at **1⁄20 dollar** and equal to 34 maravedíes (hence 1 dollar = 20 reales = 680 maravedíes), and. The Peso de cambio of 512 maravedíes as introduced in 1686 continued to be used as an accounting unit but worth a reduced value of 512⁄680 dollar (approximately 3⁄4 of a dollar). Also: The **Spanish dollar** , also known as the piece of eight (Spanish: real de a ocho, dólar, peso duro, peso fuerte or peso), is a silver coin of approximately 38 mm (1.5 in) diameter worth eight Spanish reales. So that’s the origin of the name. 8 made one Spanish dollar, so one coin was 1/8 or a “piece of 8”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/value-of-a-piece-of-eight/985978.md?page=1)