macbd1 wrote:

><snip>   What
>Americans called Spanish milled dollars or 'Pieces of Eight' were minted in
>Mexico as 'Spanish 8 Reales,' where subsidiary coins of 4 reales, 2 reales,
>1 reales and 1/2 real (a sixteenth) were also minted -- also a 1/4 real I
>believe.  Which was more common in the American colonies and states, I
>wonder, the cut 'bits' or actual coins for the eighths and sixteenths?
>
Neil,

A friend who does a bit of metal detecting on local beaches has found
half and quarter pieces of 2 and 4 reale coins. The parting of the
smaller denomination coins are much easier to handle than say a 1/16th
sliver of a milled dollar and probably more accurate to cut apart. That
is probably how the 1/16ths were done.  I imagine scales with penny
weights were used to make any real accurate determination of value,
especially since you have other national currencies like German and
Dutch being circulated and their value is likely determined by weight
alone in many instances.

Thanks for the shilling to reale equivilants used by the colonies,
interesting stuff!

Regards,

Tom A.

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