Piece of eight (money)

This article is about the Spanish silver money. You may be looking for the nine items of the Pirate Lords.

A Cabin Boy holding a piece of eight.

"Those aren't pieces of eight. They're just pieces of junk."
"Aye. The original plan was to use nine pieces of eight to bind Calypso. But when the First Court met, the Brethren were to a one skint broke."

―Pintel and Joshamee Gibbs

The Spanish dollar (also known as the piece of eight, the real de a ocho, the eight-real coin, or peso) was a silver coin, of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish Empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497.

History

James Sterling wears a piece of eight around his neck.

"I have eight pesos. How many do you need?"
"Neptune’s nightgown, love! You can't go flashing that much money here! This is Shipwreck City! Are you mad?"

―Esmeralda and Jack Sparrow

The purpose of the piece of eight was to correspond to the German thaler. It was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. Except for the gold Doubloon, the piece of eight was the most valuable currency in the New World during the Age of Piracy. The term peso was used in Spanish to refer to this denomination.

When the First Brethren Court met to bind Calypso, the Pirate Lords intended to use nine pieces of eight to do that, but they were too short on money, so they used whatever they had in their pockets at the time. Nevertheless, the trinkets used for the binding ritual became known as the Nine Pieces of Eight. 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.

Sao Feng holds Barbossa's piece of eight.

When the pirate Ragetti lost his right eye, he received 300 pieces of eight as a compensation. The infamous pirate James Sterling wore a Piece of eight around his neck. That coin was all that was left of his father's earthly wealth.

During Lord Cutler Beckett's War Against Piracy, a cabin boy among the prisoners sentenced to mass execution 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, when Hector Barbossa traveled to Singapore to tell Sao Feng the song had been sung, Feng would hear the ringing for himself as Barbossa tossed him a piece of eight. 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.

In 1751, 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.

Behind the scenes

"A piece of eight. It's true, then?"
"Aye. The time is upon us. The Brethren Court has been called."

―Sao Feng and Hector Barbossa

• The original opening of 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.
• 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. A slightly different scene where only Beckett shows his coin was included in the At World's End comic.
• 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.

Appearances

• Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
• The Price of Freedom
• Tales of the Code: Wedlocked (Mentioned only)
• The Accidental Pirate! (First appearance)
• The Sidekick! (Mentioned only)
• In Jack We Trust!
• 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 (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)

External links

• Piece of eight on Wikipedia