PIECES OF EIGHT

Have you ever heard the term “pieces of eight”? What are they?

When I was young, I watched reruns of the original Mickey Mouse Club. As part of the shows, they had episodes of a mystery drama. I remember two things about it, the kids in the story were searching for treasure, and the song for the serial story ended in a deep voice singing “pieces of eight”.

What about “two-bits, four-bits, six-bits, a dollar”? I remember this cheer from high school. “Two-bits, four-bits, six-bits, a dollar, all for [insert school name], stand up and holler.”

“Pieces of eight” and “two-bits-four-bits-etc” refer to the same thing. Well, not the cheer.

Way back when, this started with the Spanish milled silver dollar.

England prohibited the early American colonies from minting coins. The settlers were left with bartering, using foreign coins, and trading with local currency such as wampum (cylindrical beads made from quahog shells used as money).

The American colonies, having no minted money of their own, used currency from many other countries.

The Spanish milled dollar was, by far, the most commonly circulated coin in the United States and considered legal tender until the Coinage Act of 1857.

It’s edges were “milled”, or patterned, to prevent people from shaving silver from the edges unnoticed. Coins were valued by their weight rather than “face value” as they are today.

But what’s a person to do when they wanted to buy something that costs less than a dollar?

Since the Spanish dollar was valued by weight, it was often divide into eight pieces called “reals” or “bits”.

So, this milled dollar was also known as a “Piece of Eight.”

Thus, “two bits” meant a quarter of a dollar. So, by dividing a coin like the milled dollar, a person could spend part of the coin in one place and another part elsewhere.

The coin would be divided in half and be a half dollar . . .

. . . in quarters for a quarter of a dollar . . .

. . . and eighths for one real or one bit. 

Pieces of Eight were the world’s first global currency.

Though contemporary U.S. Currency is based on the silver Spanish Milled Dollar, when the young United States began minting their own currency, they went to the decimal system and divided the dollar into one hundred.

The eight-bit Spanish dollar is not the same as a doubloon, which is what we generally associate with pirates. The doubloon, also minted by Spain, is a 32-reals/bits gold coin. Four Spanish milled silver dollars would be worth the same as one doubloon. So, if someone refers to a doubloon as “pieces of eight”, that would be incorrect.

The pictures of my coins in this post are reproductions made of pewter, but they have a similar weight and appearance of the original Spanish Miller Dollar.

I love playing with my replica Spanish Milled Dollars and pieces of eight. How would you like to have a pocket full of these sharp edges?

For more information on the background of money in recent history (1500s & forward), this site has some interesting information and can be a jumping off point for further research.

COMING SOON

THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT ~ A sweet historical romance that will tug at your heart. This is book 1 in the Quilting Circle series.
Washington State, 1893
     When Lily Lexington Bremmer arrives in Kamola with her young son, she’s reluctant to join the social center of her new community, the quilting circle, but the friendly ladies pull her in. She begins piecing a sunshine and shadows quilt because it mirrors her life. She has a secret that lurks in the shadows and hopes it doesn’t come out into the light. Dark places in her past are best forgotten, but her new life is full of sunshine. Will her secrets cast shadows on her bright future?
     Widower Edric Hammond and his father are doing their best to raise his two young daughters. He meets Lily and her son when they arrive in town and helps her find a job and a place to live. Lily resists Edric’s charms at first but finds herself falling in love with this kind, gentle man and his two darling daughters. Lily has stolen his heart with her first warm smile, but he’s cautious about bringing another woman into his girls’ lives due to the harshness of their own mother.
     Can Edric forgive Lily her past to take hold of a promising chance at love?
THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT is now available at a low, pre-order price. This book releases in ebook on July 1, and will be out in paperback by mid-June.

#ChristianRomance #HistoricalRomance #Romance

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly & Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in January, Courting Her Amish Heart in March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September, & “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-three years and two cats. She has three adult children and one incredibly adorable grandchild. Find her online at:
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Money, Money (Historically Speaking, by a Novelist)

by Linore Rose Burkard

       Got money?
As an historical novelist, it is sometimes problematic to endow our characters with money. We need to know the relative value of coin in the day to decide how much or how little is appropriate.
 
   I have a collection of research books that I enjoy paging through on occasion. One such is Daily Life in Victorian England, by Sally Mitchell.  I hadn't realized until perusing its pages that Britain's old system of currency was only modernized in 1971. This is when they switched to a decimal system similar--but still quite different--from the one used by the United States.    According to Daily Life , "the old system was based on traditional non-decimal English measures such as dozens  and scores." During the Regency and Victorian eras, British money "was based on the penny, the shilling, and the pound."

Here's what the book goes on to say about this money. It's fun to see how much--or how little!--things have changed. I've added illustrations of the coins as I was able to, as they are not pictured in the book.  (As an historical novelist, it's always nice to actually see the currency that was in use during the world of your book's setting. )

penny

 The penny, right, was a large copper coin; its written symbol was d. (The plural of penny is "pence.")

 The shilling was a silver coin worth 12 pence; its written symbol was s. 

The pound  was equal to 20 shillings or 240 pence; its written symbol was £. 

The pound coin, made of gold, was referred to as sovereign. In addition, there were coins for the following amounts:

1807 Farthing

Farthing (one-fourth of a penny)(see left)

 1797 Twopence

Halfpenny

Twopence

Threepence

Groat (4 pence)

Sixpence

Sixpence

Florin (2 shillings)

 Double florin (4 shillings)

1890 Crown

Half crown (2 shillings and sixpence)

Crown (5 shillings)

Half sovereign (10 shillings, or one-half of a pound)

 The guinea coin, worth 21 shillings, was not minted after 1813. The word remained in use, however, especially for luxury goods."

Interestingly, there were only coins; no paper money at all except for "bank notes," a thing which all Regency writers inevitably become familiar with. The bank notes were issued by individual banks and had no backing such as the FDIC. If a bank went under, the notes became worthless. It was prudent to insist upon using gold coins only for large amounts of money!

In Pride and Prejudice, the rich Mr. Darcy is said to be worth £10,000 pounds per year. The less wealthy but still enviable Mr. Bingley has only £4-5,000 a year.  While it is difficult to translate value over time, it's been estimated that Darcy's fortune today would be worth almost $700,000 or "well over half a million a year." Bingley's  £4-5,000 would be worth about $265,000.

It can be tricky figuring out how much the hero of your historical novel should be worth, so it is handy that Austen gave us such references. In Before the Season Ends, the size of the formidable Mr. Mornay's estate (unless I forget!) is never actually given. Instead, his persona, including social standing, dress, influence and those he rubs shoulders with (such as Prinny, the Prince Regent), speak for him.

It is undeniably fun to portray a rich male protagonist, yet, ideally, we don't want the heroine to fall for the hero only on account of his fortune. Like Lizzie Bennet, our heroines must be earnest and honest and feisty. In the words of Ariana Forsythe, the regency debutante in Before the Season Ends, "The size of a man's fortune," she tells her socially scheming aunt, "is not my first concern."
Her aunt replies with the practical rejoinder "Then let it be your second concern!"

What do you think? When you read a novel, particularly a romance, do you prefer a hero who is rich? Just getting by? Down on his luck?  Share your thoughts! The bloggers here are all writers and we want to know!  

PS: On a side note, I read a wonderful little book called,Oh, Money! Money!by Eleanor Hodgeman Porter(1868-1920) which gives a heart-warming treatment to a common money-centered theme: Can the hero find love for himself alone, and not for his fortune (or lack of one)? Click the link to get it free on Kindle from Amazon. (The same Eleanor  Porter wrote Pollyanna.) Enjoy! 

Linore Rose Burkard  is best known for her Inspirational Regency Romance Series, which whisks readers back in time to early 19th century England. Authenticity and heart-warming adventure are par for the course in her books. Fans of romance in the tradition of Austen and Heyer (such as Pride & Prejudice, Cotillion, and even My Fair Lady), enjoy meeting Linore's feisty heroines and dashing heros.