From Pillar Dollars to Eagle Piasters – the History of the Peso

The Spanish peso was one of the most important trade coins of all times – if not the most important ever. Minted in the American colonies in large quantities, the peso can be found all over the world under different names up to this day. In some countries of the Ottoman Empire, it was minted under the name "piaster." The Chinese yuan is modeled after the Spanish peso, and so is the American dollar. And in many Latin American countries, the peso still is the national currency.

Already in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Spanish pesos have been circulating under many different names. Their official name was "real de a ocho," since the coins equaled 8 reales. In America, however, people called them merely peso, and later also dollar. Sometimes, the coins were also referred to as pillar dollars or Carolus piasters after their motifs – in 1772, the Spanish King Charles III decreed that all pesos, whether minted in Spain or in America, had to show his portrait. And sometimes, pesos were called Spanish milled dollars after the way they were manufactured.

In the course of the 19th century, the pillar and Carolus dollars were gradually replaced by eagle dollars. These were the pesos minted in large quantities after the foundation of the Republic of Mexico in 1823. The Mexican peso was actually made from silver until well into the 20th century. The peso coins of many other Latin American countries became worthless pieces of nonferrous metal already throughout the 19th century, however.

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Kingdom of Spain, Philip II (1556-1598), Real de a ocho (Peso), c. 1580, Segovia

Denomination: Real de a ocho (Peso) Mint Authority: King Philip II of Spain Mint: Segovia Year of Issue: 1580 Weight (g): 26.97 Diameter (mm): 34.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

The real de a ocho was minted for the first time in 1497 in the course of the monetary reform of Medina del Campo in Spain. At that time, the Catholic Monarchs Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragón reigned over Spain. Under the rule of these two kings began the discovery and the conquest of the New World and therewith the advancement of the peso.

Initially, the 8-reales pieces were rarely minted. In the 1540s, however, Emperor Charles V resumed the minting of the real de a ocho. At last Charles' son and successor Philip II created the type of coin which was to become the archetype for all future pesos. His 8-reales coin bore the shield of Spain on the obverse and the coat of arms, divided by a cross, on the reverse.

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Viceroyalty of New Spain, Philip V (1724-1746), Real de a ocho (Peso) 1738, Mexico City

Denomination: Real de a ocho (Peso) Mint Authority: King Philip V of Spain Mint: Mexico City Year of Issue: 1738 Weight (g): 26.92 Diameter (mm): 38.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

Such pieces of 8 reales (Spanish: real de a ochos, so-called pesos) depicting the pillars of Heracles were minted in Mexico from local silver ores for the first time in 1732. They rapidly became an internationally accepted currency.

Most of the coins minted in the Spanish colonies were made from silver, and only about 4 percent were gold or bronze coins. In the years between 1537 and 1888, the Mexican mints struck approximately about 3 billion pesos. These coins, known as Spanish milled dollars or, referring to their picture, as pillar dollars, circulated in North America until the middle of the 19th century.

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Spanish Colonial Empire, Viceroyalty of Peru, Ferdinand VI (1746-1759), Real de a ocho (Peso) 1754, Lima

Denomination: Real de a ocho (Peso) Mint Authority: King Ferdinand VI of Spain Mint: Lima Year of Issue: 1754 Weight (g): 27.13 Diameter (mm): 40.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

The real de a ocho, the 8-reales coin, later known as peso, was minted in 1732 in Mexico for the first time. In Spanish colloquial it was known as "real fuerte culumnario," i.e. as pillar dollar, and in German as Säulenpiaster. These names all refer to the image on the reverse of the coin: the two pillars of Heracles rising out of the sea, flanked by the hemispheres of the Old and the New Worlds.

The peso took the world economy by assault. It was especially popular for trade with Asia and thus became the forerunner of the Chinese yuan and the Japanese yen. In North America, the peso was a well-liked trading coin as well and became the prototype of the modern US dollar.

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Chinese Empire, Real de a ocho (Peso) 1808 with Countermarks

Denomination: Real de a ocho (Peso) Mint Authority: King Charles III of Spain Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1808 Weight (g): 26.22 Diameter (mm): 39.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

One coin, two nations: the peso shown here was minted in 1808 in Potosí, the most productive of all Spanish mints in South America. As an international trade coin, the coin spread as far as China, where no less than twelve different silver inspectors stamped it with their marks. By doing so, they approved of the silver, legitimated the circulation of the foreign coin in their area and made it clear that it had to be accepted as a means of payment.

Though, the silver inspectors did not know that with their counterstamps they were heavily influencing the Chinese monetary history. Nevertheless these countermarks are the first step to China's national currency, the yuan, which was the Chinese version of the Spanish peso.

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Mozambique, José I of Portugal (1750-1777), Real de a ocho (Peso) 1765 with Mozambican Countermark

Denomination: Real de a ocho (Peso) Mint Authority: King José I of Portugal Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1765 Weight (g): 27 Diameter (mm): 38.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

This peso has had an adventurous journey. It was minted in the colony of Mexico in 1765 in the name of the Spanish King Charles III. From there it traveled to East Africa, into the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, where it was countermarked MR.

In 1765, the Portuguese in Mozambique started to countermark valuable foreign coins with M (for "Mozambique"). These countermarked coins were acknowledged legal tender within the colony. Two years later, the countermark M was replaced by MR (for "Mozambique Rios"?). MR was used almost exclusively on Mexican pesos (the so-called "Spanish colonial pillar dollars"). On European coins, it appeared only occasionally.

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United States of America, 1 Dollar 1884, Philadelphia

Denomination: 1 Dollar Mint Authority: United States of America Mint: Philadelphia Year of Issue: 1884 Weight (g): 26.7 Diameter (mm): 38.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

The North American colonies did not have currency at first. Only in the 18th century did foreign coins come into circulation, particularly Spanish-Mexican pesos, which where much-valued world trade coins at that time. These pesos were also known as pillar dollars after their coin motif, or as Spanish milled dollars after their manufacture. The word "dollar" derived from the taler circulating in Germany.

After the War of Independence (1776-1783), the United States of America created its own currency, which was also termed dollar. Weigh and fineness of the new American coins were modeled after the Spanish-Mexican peso, however, which was the major coin in North America anyway.

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United States of America, Trade Dollar 1875, San Francisco

Denomination: 1 Trade Dollar Mint Authority: United States of America Mint: San Francisco Year of Issue: 1875 Weight (g): 27.22 Diameter (mm): 38.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

The term "trade dollar" does not stand for a national currency: trade dollars were minted by the USA, by Great Britain and by France (as piastres de commerce). The ambition of all these issues was to oust the Mexican pesos from trade with China and to replace them by the respective countries own coins.

Appropriate to their aim, the US trade dollars depicted Liberty seated on a bale of cotton and wheat, extending an olive branch to the left. In five years, from 1873 to 1878, the mints of Philadelphia, San Francisco and Carson City struck over 30 million of those dollars. They were not successful, however. In 1876, Congress declared the trade dollars valid only for export, and demonetized it as legal tender within the United States.

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Empire of Mexico, Augustín I (1822-1823), Real de a ocho (Peso) 1823

Denomination: Real de a ocho (Peso) Mint Authority: Emperor Augustín I of Mexico Mint: Mexico City Year of Issue: 1823 Weight (g): 26.85 Diameter (mm): 40.0 Material: Silver Owner: Sunflower Foundation

Mexico gained independence fram Spain in 1821, and, after a short intermezzo under Emperor Augustín de Itúrbide, became a republic in 1824.

Emperor Augustín I, as Itúrbide called himself after his takeover, introduced as Mexican currency the peso modeled after the Spanish archetype. The mints in Mexico City had been minting millions of pesos in the name of the Spanish kings since 1535. Now, Mexico started to issue pesos in its own name. The coin motif showed an eagle sitting on a nopal plant growing out of a rock in the sea. This pesos became soon known as eagle dollar all over the world.

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Republic of Lebanon, 10 Piasters 1955

Denomination: 10 Piasters Mint Authority: Republic of Lebanon Mint: Undefined Year of Issue: 1955 Weight (g): 3.4 Diameter (mm): 22.0 Material: Aluminum-Bronze Owner: Sunflower Foundation

The Spanish peso was one of the most important trade coins of all times. During the 16th and 17th centuries, it represented a major part of the circulating coins in Europe. By way of the Italian centers of trade, the peso also reached the Ottoman Empire. Here, it circulated under the name of piaster, however. The pesos or piasters dominated the monetary circulation of the eastern Mediterranean and of northern Africa deep into the Sahara. In 1873, the piaster was regarded as favorite coin of the Orient.

It is not amazing that a coin as widespread as that induced diverse minting authorities to imitate it. Until this day, various derivatives of the piaster can be found all over the world. The Lebanese pound, for example, is divided into 100 piasters. This 10-piaster coin bears a cedar on its obverse – the cedar is the emblem of Lebanon, as its cedar woods have been world famous since historical times. The reverse of the coin shows a Punic galley, because Lebanon, located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, was the powerful Phoenicia of ancient times.

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