3021 - Since early coins were valued by their weight and metal content rather than at “face value” as coins are today, the bearer of the coin could make change by breaking the coin into pieces. The Spanish Milled Dollar was known as a Piece of 8 because it was worth 8 reales, a common Spanish coin denomination. The expression “2 bits” to mean a quarter of a dollar comes from breaking the milled dollar into 8 “bits”.
Pieces of Eight, reproduction cast in lead-free Pewter.
We have created a set of Pieces of Eight that includes one complete reproduction Spanish milled dollar along with 8 eighths (bits), 4 quarters, and 2 halves. Each set of pieces will re-assemble to form a complete, divided Spanish milled dollar, for a total of 4 milled dollars in the set. All castings are lead-free pewter to represent the appearance and weight of the original silver pieces. This set is packaged in a poly bag with history insert.