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By far the leading specie coin circulating in America was the Spanish silver dollar, defined as consisting of 387 grains of pure silver. The dollar was divided into "pieces of eight," or "bits," each consisting of one-eighth of a dollar. Spanish dollars came into the North American colonies through lucrative trade with the West Indies.
The maravedí (Spanish pronunciation: [maɾaβeˈði]) or maravedi (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐɾɐvɨˈði]) (from Arabic: الدينار المرابطي, romanized: al-murābiṭī, lit. ' Almoravid [dinar] '), was the name of various Iberian coins of gold and then silver between the 11th and 14th centuries and the name of different ...
Spanish American gold coins were minted in one-half, one, two, four, and eight escudo denominations, with each escudo worth around two Spanish dollars or $2. The two-escudo (or $4 coin) was the "doubloon" or "pistole", and the large eight-escudo (or $16) was a "quadruple pistole".
The coins circulated throughout Spain's colonies and beyond, with the eight-real piece, known in English as the Spanish dollar, becoming an international standard and spawning, among other currencies, the United States dollar. A reform in 1737 set the silver real at two and half billon reales (reales de vellón) or eighty-five maravedís.
The first escudo was a gold coin introduced in 1535/1537, with coins denominated in escudos issued until 1833. It was initially worth 16 reales . When different reales were introduced, the escudo became worth 16 reales de plata in 1642, then 16 reales de plata fuerte or 40 reales de vellón from 1737.
The last coin of any value under one peseta was a 50 cts coin issued in 1980 to celebrate Spain's hosting of the 1982 FIFA World Cup. [6] The last 25-céntimo coin (or real) was dated 1959, the ten céntimos also dated 1959; both coins bore the portrait of Franco. The 1-céntimo coin was last minted in 1913 and featured King Alfonso XIII. [7]
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The silver 8-real coin was known as the Spanish dollar (as the coin was minted to the specifications of the thaler of the Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg monarchy), peso, duro or the famous piece of eight. Spanish dollars minted between 1732 and 1773 are also often referred to as columnarios. The portrait variety from 1772 and later are ...