Spannish Trade Dollar 1772-1789 |Ongzi's Coins

Monday 26 May 2014

Spannish Trade Dollar 1772-1789

DESCRIPTION

Obverse : CAROLUS III DEI GRATIA 1776 "Charles III by the Grace of God, 1776".

Right profile of Charles III in toga with laurel wreath.

Reverse : HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX M[EXICO] 8 R[EALES] F M "King of the Spains and the Indies, Mexico [City Mint] 8 reales".

Crowned Spanish arms between the Pillars of Hercules adorned with PLVS VLTRA ( Latin : Plus ultra, “further beyond” ) motto.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Country : Mexico

Years : 1772 – 1789

Value : 8 reals

Metal : .917 Silver

Weight : 27.07 g

Diameter : 40mm

Shape : round

HISTORY

The real de a ocho, also known as the Spanish dollar, the eight-real coin, or the piece of eight (Spanish : peso de ocho), is a silver coin, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497.

The Spanish dollar was widely used by many countries as international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics.

The coin was minted with several different designs at various mints in Spain and the New World. The main New World mints for Spanish dollars were at Potosí, Lima, and Mexico, with minor mints at Bogotá, Cartegena, Cuzco, Guatemala, La Plata, Panama, Popayan, Santo Domingo and Santiago.

The 12 mints produced a total of 5 types of silver coins : pillar, shield, pillar and waves, milled pillar, and milled bust.

pillar

shield

pillars and waves

milled pillars

milled bust

Because it was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the late 18th century. Millions of Spanish dollars were minted over the course of several centuries. They were among the most widely circulating coins of the colonial period in the Americas, and were still in use in North America and in South-East Asia in the 19th century.

Some countries countersigned the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency. The Spanish dollar was the coin upon which the original United States dollar was based, and it remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. Aside from the U.S. dollar, several other existing currencies, such as the Canadian dollar, the Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan, the Philippine peso, as well as several currencies in Latin America, were initially based on the Spanish dollar and other 8-real coins.

The Spanish dollar was often cut into 8 ‘bits’ to make change. Each bit equivalent to 1 real ; 2 bits is a quarter of a dollar.