Reference
Spanish coin glossary
The words you meet around Spanish treasure coins, defined in plain language. Keep this open while you read the money pages.
- Real
- The silver unit of Spanish money. Coins ran from a half real to 8 reales. The plural is reales.
- Piece of eight
- The 8 reales silver coin, one peso, known worldwide as the Spanish dollar. It split into eight 'bits'.
- Bit
- One eighth of a piece of eight, that is, one real. A quarter of the dollar was 'two bits', still slang for 25 cents.
- Escudo
- The gold unit of Spanish money, worth about 16 reales. Coins ran from 1 to 8 escudos.
- Doubloon
- Strictly the 2 escudos gold coin, from doblon meaning 'double'. In loose modern use, the large 8 escudos.
- Cob
- A hand-struck silver or gold coin made from about 1572 to 1773. Cut from a bar, hammered on a die, and clipped to weight, so it is thick and irregular.
- Macuquina
- The Spanish name for cob coinage, from the crude method of striking blanks cut and clipped by hand.
- Milled coin
- A coin made by machine, round and even, as opposed to a hand-struck cob. Milled colonial coinage grew from 1732.
- Columnario
- The milled 8 reales pillar dollar, showing two globes between the Pillars of Hercules. Struck from 1732.
- Pillars of Hercules
- The twin columns flanking the Strait of Gibraltar in Spanish design, wrapped with the motto PLUS ULTRA.
- PLUS ULTRA
- Latin for 'further beyond', the Spanish royal motto shown on pillar coinage over stylized waves.
- Mint mark
- A letter or monogram naming the city that struck a coin, such as oMo for Mexico City or the PTSI monogram for Potosi.
- Assayer
- The official who certified a coin's metal content. The assayer's initial appears beside the mint mark and helps date the coin.
- Provenance
- The documented history of a coin, above all a link to a named shipwreck. Strong provenance adds a large premium.
- Shipwreck coin
- A coin recovered from a sunken ship. Sea time can etch or tone the surface, and a salvage certificate raises its value.
- Treasure Coast
- The stretch of Florida's Atlantic shore, around Sebastian, Vero Beach, and Fort Pierce, named for the wrecked 1715 Fleet.
Ready to use these? Start with the piece of eight, then try identifying a coin.