Silver dollars would be chiselled into fragments to provide change - hence pieces of eight, quarters, two-bits.
Spanish piece of eight, a coin common in the American colonies during the Revolution, had eight segments marked on their reverse so that the coins could be divided (to make change).
My senses were all confused as within my sight was a king's ransom - Spanish gold doubloons and shining silver reals, gold pieces of eight, old English milled gold guineas, crowns, minted silver shillings.
I changed all my available funds into copper pennies - the old ones, the size of half-crowns - which I would trickle through my fingers as if they were doubloons or pieces of eight.
The material reported ranges from the obligatory porthole to cannon and shot, several pieces of eight and a Charles I gold coin.
Definition of piece of eight in US English:
piece of eight
nounpis əv
historical
A Spanish dollar, equivalent to 8 reals.
〈史〉八里亚尔币（昔时西班牙披索银币）
Example sentencesExamples
I changed all my available funds into copper pennies - the old ones, the size of half-crowns - which I would trickle through my fingers as if they were doubloons or pieces of eight.
My senses were all confused as within my sight was a king's ransom - Spanish gold doubloons and shining silver reals, gold pieces of eight, old English milled gold guineas, crowns, minted silver shillings.
Spanish piece of eight, a coin common in the American colonies during the Revolution, had eight segments marked on their reverse so that the coins could be divided (to make change).
The material reported ranges from the obligatory porthole to cannon and shot, several pieces of eight and a Charles I gold coin.
Silver dollars would be chiselled into fragments to provide change - hence pieces of eight, quarters, two-bits.