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The peso, also known as the ocho reales, or known popularly as piece of eight, was a silver coin. It was minted in the Spanish Empire. Because the Spanish dollar was widely used in Europe, America, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the 16th century. Except for the doubloon...
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This article is about the Spanish silver money. You may be looking for the nine items of the Pirate Lords.

The peso, also known as the ocho reales, or known popularly as piece of eight, was a silver coin. It was minted in the Spanish Empire. Because the Spanish dollar was widely used in Europe, America, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the 16th century. Except for the doubloon, it was the most valuable currency in the New World. The reason they were called "pieces of eight" was that their faces were marked with lines, so they could be cut into eight roughly equal pieces.

History[]

By the 1500s, the Spanish dollar was minted in the Spanish Empire and widely used in Europe, America, and the Far East. Known as the peso, ocho reales, or piece of eight, it was a heavy silver coin considered to be the most valuable currency in the New World, except for the gold doubloon. The reason they were called "pieces of eight" was that their faces were marked with lines, so they could be cut into eight roughly equal pieces. By the Age of Piracy, eight pesos was a lot of money—enough to buy two bulls, or an unbroken horse.[1]

In the first meeting of the Brethren Court, the Pirate Lords intended to use coins, nine pieces of eight, for the spell to bind Calypso. However, because they were broke and short on money, the First Court used whatever they had in their pockets at the time. Despite not having coins, everyone liked "Nine Pieces of Eight" as a name, so it stuck.[2][3] The Pirate Lord Henry Morgan was said to have amassed more than half a million dollars in three years from sacking the major towns of the Spanish Main.[4]

During her early adulthood Lady Esmeralda had no shortage of coins. When her love interest Jack Sparrow asked her for a loan, she readily pulled out a purse with eight pesos, which was enough money to buy two bulls, or an unbroken horse. With two coins Jack bought a bottle of rum and a piece of cooked beef which then used to make the Prison Dog drunk and steal the keys to the Shipwreck City dungeons.[5] Boris Palachnik, the former Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea and the leader of the infamous Rogue pirates, once paid twenty pesos to his informant Giles for the info on the whereabouts of Jack Sparrow so he could have revenge for the downfall of his organization.[6]

When the pirate Ragetti lost his right eye, he received 300 pieces of eight as a compensation.[7] The legendary pirate Captain James Sterling wore a piece of eight around his neck. That coin was all that was left of his father's earthly wealth.[8][9]

During Lord Cutler Beckett's War Against Piracy, a cabin boy among the prisoners sentenced to mass executions at a fort by the East India Trading Company held a piece of eight in his hands as he stood on the gallows, and began mournfully singing Hoist the Colours—the song of the Brethren Court. The rest of the prisoners joined in the song, but they were forever silenced when the executioner pulled the lever, and the piece of eight began to resonate as it fell from the dead cabin boy's hands. Later, as Pirate Lords Hector Barbossa and Sao Feng meet in Singapore, Feng would hear the ringing for himself as Barbossa tossed him a piece of eight, telling him the song was sung and they must convene the Court. Lord Beckett had a silver piece of eight in his possession aboard the HMS Endeavour, examining it as he was informed of the "Nine Pieces of Eight" and questioned their purpose. By the time of Jack Sparrow's negotiation with Beckett in the captain's cabin, the number of silver pieces of eight on Beckett's desk had increased to nine.[3]

In 1751,[10] when Henry Turner needed help to free the notorious pirate Jack Sparrow and the astronomer Carina Smyth from the British authorities on the island of Saint Martin, he hired Sparrow's former crew, giving the pirates ten silver pieces.[11]

Behind the scenes[]

Pieces of eight were first identified by name in the souvenir book for Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.[12] They make their first in-universe appearance in In Jack We Trust!, a Disney Adventures comic published in 2004.[citation needed] The names "peso" and "ocho reales" first appear in the 2011 novel The Price of Freedom by A. C. Crispin.[1]

The original opening of the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was to be a montage depicting the Pirate Lords each receiving a piece of eight from Hector Barbossa as a sort of invitation announcing the convening of the Brethren Court. However, the scene of the hanging at Fort Charles, in which Hoist the Colors was sung, ended up being the opening in the final cut of the film. All that remained of the original opening was a shot of Barbossa with a piece of eight in his hand, which only appeared in the opening clip of the At World's End deleted scenes.[13]

In the At World's End junior novelization when Jack Sparrow negotiated with Cutler Beckett aboard the HMS Endeavour he proposed to betray the Brethren Court, pulling out a piece of eight from the hidden pocket, to which Beckett responded by showing his own piece of eight, saying that he was aware of the Brethren Court and its meeting.[14] A slightly different scene where only Beckett shows his coin was included in the At World's End comic.[15]

In Jeff Nathanson's 2013 early draft of the Dead Men Tell No Tales script the Auctioneer led a wench auction in Coronation Bay, selling the imprisoned Carina Smyth to a vicious looking pirate who offered twenty pieces of eight against Jack Sparrow's ten.[16]

The piece of eight was meant to appear in Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, a video game which was scheduled to be released in 2011.[9] But since that game was cancelled, it is unknown if its appearance in the game is canon or not.

Appearances[]

Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm

Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned

The Price of Freedom (First identified as peso and ocho reales)

Tales of the Code: Wedlocked (Mentioned only)

The Sidekick! (Mentioned only)

In Jack We Trust! (First appearance)

A Revolting Development!

The Buccaneer's Heart!

Chain Reaction!

The Escape of Pintel and Ragetti!

The Haunting of Jack Sparrow!

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (junior novelization)

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (comic)

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Penguin Readers)

The Brightest Star in the North: The Adventures of Carina Smyth (Mentioned only)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Mentioned only)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales: Movie Graphic Novel (Mentioned only)

Sources[]

Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Story of the Robust Adventure in Disneyland and Walt Disney World (First identified as pieces of eight)

[]

Piece of eight on Wikipedia