Piece of Eight Silver Coin (real de a ocho)

Type Object Region Americas Time 1581–1590

The Spanish Empire's piece of eight (peso de a ocho), minted in the Americas, became the universal pricing and settlement medium of 16th-century glob…

Timeline

1581–1585Royal Mint of Potosí · Upper PeruIn the 1580s the mints at Potosí and Mexico City minted piece of eight silver coins in large quantities under uniform weight and fineness standards, bearing the Habsburg coat of arms, each containing roughly 27 to 28 grams of silver, becoming the basic unit of imperial finance and trade settlement.
1583–1587Seville · CastileAfter American silver arrived by ship in Seville, piece of eight coins were registered by the Casa de Contratación and then distributed to German, Italian, and Low Country states; merchants used them by count or cut by weight, and their stable silver content gave the coin a premium in European exchange markets.
1585–1590Manila · PhilippinesThe Acapulco–Manila galleons carried American piece of eight coins to the Philippines, where in Manila they traded silk and porcelain with Chinese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian merchants; the coins became hard currency in East Asian coastal markets, matching supply and demand with the Ming reform converting taxes into silver.

Sources

A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire — Şevket Pamuk (2000)
Pieces of Eight: The Monetary Powers of the World's First Global Currency — Arturo Giráldez