“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. Thanks for watching this weeks video and I hope you learned something! If
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