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Pieces of Eight
The coinage act of 1792, created the United States Mint, but since the pieces of eight had been around so long, the new U.S. silver dollar wasn't too popular, Both the U.S. silver dollars and Spanish reales, (pieces of eight), contained about three quarters of an ounce of pure silver, the reale a fraction less than the U.S. silver dollar, but both were used interchangeably for many decades. Private mints in the U.S. made silver reales, or pieces of eight, and shipped them overseas, back to Spain, which made ships containing the silver, perfect targets for pirates. Undoubtedly, millions of silver reales lie at the bottom of the ocean, due to ships being sunk by pirates. Speaking of pirates, the hit film series called the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' used pieces of eight as props, and there is a big market in making fake silver 'pieces of eight' for a few dollars. Real ones seem to go for $150, which like all numismatics, is a big price to pay for less than an ounce of silver! The U.S. stock market, as a holdover from the pieces of eight tradition, used eighths of a dollar and sixteenths of a dollar, to price stocks until 1997. Neither the U.S. silver dollar, nor the reales (pieces of eight) had one full ounce of silver in them. For a true ounce, one needs today to go to 1 ounce 'rounds,' U.S. Silver Eagles, Canadian Silver Maple Leafs, or Austrian Silver Philharmonics, which we in the trade call 'Phillies.' Mexico still has literally mountains of silver, but its corrupt government seems to be unable to produce it at commodity prices. Millions of pieces of eight (reales) were produced over the decades, and they were probably the most widely used coins around the world till the mid 1800's. They had the value of one dollar, when used in the U.S. Like dollars, reales (pieces of eight) were halved into 'pieces of four,' and quartered into 'pieces of 2,' or two reales. We then get half dollars (fifty cent pieces) and quarters. While my readers all know that the historic ratio between silver and gold has been 16 to one, the current ratio is a bit under 61 to 1, or down from 80 to 1 a couple of years ago. It had gotten down to 49 to 1 last year, but went up, I am certain, due to the Obama and Democrats winning the election. People love gold and consider it safety. The ratio, in my opinion anyway, may stay about where it is till we get rid of the Obama gang, and people again aren't as horrified at conditions as they are now. Silver's eventual return to 16 to 1, will happen eventually, but in the mean time, for goodness sakes, DO NOT TRADE YOUR GOLD IN FOR SILVER! Why not? Because you'd have to sell your gold at the 'bid' price, pay to ship it, and then buy the silver at the 'ask' price, and pay for shipping and commission for buying the silver. You may be talking about a lot of differential, which may take a long time to make up. If the ratios concern you, simply buy silver rather than gold, but to switch what you have for another metal, is not economically sane, so I suggest you not do it. Stock brokers love to 'churn' clients by taking them out of one stock and placing them in another, which helps their paycheck, but usually not their customer. We don't do that, and that's why we have an "A" rating from the Better Business Bureau. (See their moniker at top of our web site). Silver has done very well in the last decade, and even better than gold. A silver dime, of pre-1964 vintage, is now worth close to $1.40. Shows one how far our U.S. currency has declined, doesn't it? It will continue to decline, and so will all paper monies in the world, because not a single one is backed by anything, and they are created out of thin air. Why does everyone save in them? Because they're stupid? Victims of habit? Believers in government? Fools? All of the above? P.S. who would have thought that the health boondoggle could have been stopped by a Massachusetts election? I wonder how many other demos will jump ship and abandon it, when Scott wins? It's been called "The Scott that was heard 'round the world." Even the Brits and Maple Leafs would like to junk their socialized medicine, I am sure. See, just when it all looked so glum, it turns out OK. I'm calling my court house today to find out how to start a new political party. If it takes so many signatures, I'll get them and let my town be the place of origin of the "Tea Party." You republicrats can go to hell in a hand basket if we get this thing going. Obama is still at 50% approval the polls say, but it isn't in the American West, except California, and you can be sure of that! Don't mess with Texas either. How can you stand to live in the liberal east? Protect yourself. |
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The Spanish Dollar was also known as the 'piece of eight,' because it was worth eight Spanish reales. First made in 1497, and discontinued in 1857, it became the basis for the Canadian dollar, U.S. dollar, the Chinese yaun, and a host of South American currencies. About the same time as the reale came into existence, a Bohemian began making "Joachimstalers,' named for the valley of Joachim, or the valley (staler) of Joachim, which happened to be rich in silver. 'Staler,' later became 'daler' in Swedish, 'daaler' in Holland, 'tellero' in Italian, and 'dollar' in America. The word 'reales' means royals in Spanish. 360 years usage for one coin is a record, I am certain. The U.S. dollar is about extinguished after only a bit more than two hundred years.