The term "pieces of eight" refers to Spanish milled dollars, which were silver coins each worth 8 "reales" and which are a trope in virtually every pirate book and movie. They were minted for centuries in Spain and its New World colonies and were legal tender in many nations (including the United States until 1857).
Alexander Hamilton established the weight and silver content of the U.S. silver dollar based on the average weight of worn examples of the Spanish coin, and, as a result, a newly-minted Spanish dollar without any loss of metal due to wear would weigh more and contain more silver than a newly-minted example of the U.S. version--a fact which made the Spanish dollars quite desirable to Americans.
It was a common practice to cut the coins into up to eight pie-shaped wedges which could be used for small change. Two of these wedges were equal to one quarter of the dollar and were commonly called "two bits."
A highly-worn example of the more common varieties, like the one pictured above which was made in Mexico City, can often be obtained for less than $200. However, numerous fake ones abound. While some were manufactured for fraudulent purposes, most were made of base metal, not genuine silver, and serve as souvenirs in novelty stores or tourist traps near the seacoast.
The influence of the Spanish milled dollar may still be pervasive today. The reverse of the coins featured two columns (the "Pillars of Hercules") with a banner loosely wrapped around each one. Although no one for sure knows of the exact origin of the dollar sign, a common theory is that it was adapted from and evolved from this design.
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