Pieces of Eight, Escudos, & Doubloons | The Pirates Port

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“English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Georges, and Louises, doubloons and double guineas and moidores and sequins, the pictures of all the kings of Europe for the last hundred years, strange Oriental pieces stamped with what looked like wisps of string or bits of spider’s web, round pieces and square pieces, and pieces bored through the middle, as if to wear them round your neck - nearly every variety of money in the world must, I think, have found a place in that collection; and for number, I am sure they were like autumn leaves, so that my back ached with stooping and my fingers with sorting them out.”
-Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
In the Golden Age of Piracy five nations had colonies spread amongst the islands of the Caribbean and the Spanish Main. Each nation had their own currency and the method of exchange was a little more complicated than it is today. Pirates also raided ships in the Indian Ocean where traders used different currencies as well.
The Spanish Dollar, also known as the Piece of Eight or Peso, was BY FAR the world’s first international currency. In fact, the Spanish Dollar was what the US Dollar was based upon and it remained legal tender in the United States all the way up until 1857. The Piece of Eight got its nickname because it was worth eight reals and was commonly cut into eight pieces or bits to make change. If you’ve ever heard someone refer to a quarter as two bits know you know why. One quarter of a US dollar would be two bits or 2 eighths of a coin.
The Pesos were minted in absolutely massive quantities after the Spanish realized the extent of the silver deposits in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. Originally a peso was produced by chopping off a chunk of silver from a bar, filing it to the correct weight, hammering it flat, and pressing it with a simple design. These coins were called cobs in English and, more or less, were designed simply to be more convenient to handle and account for. In most cases they were melted down when they arrived back in Europe but some stayed in use as currency. The coins became very popular because people were able to trade silver of a known value and fineness, 25.56 grams, instead of rough silver.
The Escudo was a Spanish gold coin worth 16 reales or two Pesos and the famous Doubloon (from doblón, Spanish for double) was worth two Escudos. The English used a gold coin named the Guinea that was 22 carets and weighed 8.3 grams. The English also had the farthings, two of which made up one half Penny. Two half Pennies equaled one Penny, twelve Pennies equaled one Shilling, Five Shillings made one Crown, 4 Crowns equaled 1 Pound Sterling or 6 Crowns equaled one Guinea.
So, first off, yes, that was really the system they used and apparently people were much better with math in those days. And that’s just the English system. If you’re wondering what the value of these coins would be in today’s money it’s difficult to give exact equivalents because the cost of living was MUCH less but it’s accepted that a piece of eight had the buying power of around $50 US Dollars and a British Pound Sterling had the buying power of around $200. If you remember a few episodes back I did a video about the wenches in Port Royal and mentioned a certain Salt-Beef Peg? Well, it was reported that Peg charged 500 pieces of eight to see her nude (which would have been special because in those days it was rare for a prostitute to take her clothes off as it took much longer to get ready than it does today). Regardless, 500 pieces of eight would have the approximate buying power of $25,000 today so that gives you an idea of why these men were willing to risk their lives being Pirates..
Beyond these coins there were many more, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Indian, Arabian, Chinese, and on and on. A pirate would have asked a bartender or merchant if he accepted the currency and that would have been followed by an inspection, being weighed, and the coin likely bit to determine the value. In some far away lands a merchant wouldn’t want a certain type of coin at all but Pirates rarely held on to currency for long enough for that to be a concern.
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Special Thank You to Flintlock for the awesome new intro music! You can check his videos out at • Episode 1: Drunk playing
#thepiratesport #piecesofeight #pirates #piracy #piratehistory #goldenageofpiracy

[@ThePiratesPort]

🏴‍☠️ Thanks for watching this weeks video! Would *YOU* have been willing to risk your life for the kind of money these pirates were bringing in?

[@brookingsbeachcomber]

along with the excitement, freedom and travel well worth it, they made the history books

[@TheSonicfrog]

Well, the democracy and thieving parts are ok, but the skanky ship environment, horrible medical "care", and just general risk of shipwreck and/or hanging ... yeah I'd pass.

[@Some0nefamiliar]

I would 100% take the risk ngl

[@ItsPaige_Hi]

I have five of King Philip in the set plated it in gold

[@bubblegumfacebabe]

I shared this channel with a friend who's deaf and she appreciates that you put the script in the description, a magnificent video keep it up :)

[@ThePiratesPort]

No problem! Glad you like them! 😃

[@markusmuller6173]

Nice explanation. - Thanks ! :) Mentioning the source(s) of info would be nice, too ;)

[@siulgonzalez]

Spanish coins were the first globally accepted currency. They were very pure and exact in weight, easy to count and divide, and they facilitated trade between four continents, from the Philipines, across America, Europe and northern Africa. Some pieces have been found even in China. I liked that you explained that they were the origin of the dollar. If you are curious about it, search about the Spanish symbols (the columns of Hercules and the "plus ultra" band) as the origin of the current symbol of the dollar $. There are different theories about it, but I find it interesting.

[@88amona]

As a precious metals stacker. I'm very educated and entertained with your research. Thank you bro 😎🤙

[@michaelpage4199]

As my parrot says… pieces of eight … pieces of eight… squawk. Great video

[@michaelhawkins1174]

Peices of eight are my favorite coins there's so much history and adventure to imagine when you hold them in your hands.

[@mandolinpirate9860]

You really made that little tune work! Another fantastic video - your channel is a fast favourite!

[@ThePiratesPort]

Thanks again for that! Fits the intro perfectly!

[@markusmuller6173]

Nice explanation. - Thanks ! :)

[@deantaefields5911]

So glad I found this channel. Also I've seen several coins recovered from the whydah with holes drilled into them so they might be worn about the neck, does anyone happen to know how this was done I'd love to know.

[@Djwoogie]

This is amazing great job I didn't know this

[@kkaner181]

Great video thanks!

[@alexmackay8948]

Found your channel due to me resesrching my metal detecting find j had here in scotland a 1633 8 reales of philip IV minted in mexico

[@ThePiratesPort]

That’s awesome!

[@ImNotCreativeEnoughToMakeUser]

Did some math. A 2 cob coin would be worth approximately 8 USD in todays money.

[@LukeSkyDancer]

the Legendary pieces of eight by pirates

[@gregoryyoung4604]

Very interesting and informative... I'm on board!

[@Twelvestonestacking]

Excellent!

[@ShahJahan572]

Brilliant! Keep them coming. I believe Thoughty2 took Inspiration from your work.

[@ThePiratesPort]

Glad you liked the video!

[@josephgarcia8278]

I own shipwreck cobs and 8 reales from the cazador shipwreck and just picked up a 2 reale from the cazador and very soon i hope to get a piece of 8 from the spice island wreck

[@stephaniewhitley7790]

I have one but being trying to understand what it is

[@cmdrTremyss]

At this point I wonder how hot Peg must have been.

[@LaborHours]

Better question is how dumb and desperate were the men.

[@dancpods2213]

Hey! It’s me Froisse from the discord! Love your videos!

[@ThePiratesPort]

Thank you!! I’m glad you like them!

[@Leto85]

The English coins you've showed at around 2:30 look a lot like the 'guldens' we used to have here in the Netherlands up to 2001.

[@ClementinesCoins]

that design wouldnt of been used in the golden age of piracy, it was a 4 shielded design with legend written around so no idea why they used an early george III guinea as example

[@ThePiratesPort]

Because we’re not perfect.

[@Leto85]

@@ClementinesCoins Oh, then it was just a mistake. I wouldn't even have noticed, other than the gulden reference.

[@ByddinRhyddidCymru]

2:46 they used that system up until 1971 lmao

[@howardcohen4845]

That was cool 😎

[@blaircolquhoun7780]

My father had a piece of eight. That's what we had for several years.

[@tardwrangler]

Great work, wish there was more

[@erikbrantner4295]

What else was legal & tender here in the US during this period? What about early taller coins or silver French esc's? During a time before and even after the US mint started making silver dollars and other coins, could have these coins have been used if they found they're way in the US? All were made of silver and would likely be put on a scale for weight and content...

[@TenryoTV]

nice

[@aonoymousandy7467]

Great vid 👌 👍 👏 🙌 😊

[@ThePiratesPort]

Thanks!

[@gitanopnmex]

Interesting

[@joshstuckey9977]

Where do you buy actual coins tho

[@GVGR11B]

Still mad I sold my 2 graded ones from the princess Louisa

[@Kehlanhardy08]

I love it when I’m one of the new 1k likes

[@volksboyfiftyseven6680]

Aaarr me hearties! I knew I left me gold around here somewheres. And here it is, landlubbers, right where I lost it I mean, LEFT it! Ha-ha! Me beautiful, beautiful gold! '😃'💰💲💰!!

[@kingoftwilight13]

I wish i could get one

[@tardwrangler]

You can

[@kingoftwilight13]

@@tardwrangler how

[@tardwrangler]

@@kingoftwilight13 Trade

[@themightyangustma2753]

Could you make a video on what kind of treasure pirates commonly plundered? This may be a very boring and bland topic, I’m not sure.

[@ThePiratesPort]

I don’t know if it’d be enough for a full video. They stole anything of value, so think tobacco, cloth, alcohol, etc. “Treasure”, in the form of gold and jewels, was rarely captured but it did happen from time to time.

[@Renwoxing13]

Comment

[@ulfberht4431]

Those aren’t pieces of 8, they’re just pieces of junk!

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

1:08 - Seriously? SERIOUSLY? I know American's are pretty oblivious to history, but you think the first internationally recognized currency was the peso?!? Bruh. There's about eight world spanning empires that would like to disagree with you.

[@Jay-gf8tm]

Rare for a pr--stitute to take her clothes off? This is sarcasm right?

[@ThePiratesPort]

No. It took women a long time to get dressed in those days, so unless a man paid her very well she wouldn't have taken her clothing all the way off.

[@Jay-gf8tm]

@@ThePiratesPort very interesting. Thank you so much, it makes sense, but I didn't expect that to be the case!