The Pirate Piece of Eight - Buried Treasure for the Treasure Hunter in All of Us... now in an heirloom pendant

Please Note: This is an authentic Spanish Piece of Eight Treasure Coin, and you will receive the exact pendant in the photographs and description.

FOR PENDANT SIZE SEE COIN DETAILS BELOW

When we think of the treasure coins of pirate lore, the silver Spanish colonial coins of Central and South America immediately come to mind. Next time you read about the great pirates of long ago, Henry Morgan, Edward Teach (Blackbeard), John Rackham (Calico Jack), Mary Read, Anne Bonny and many others, these were the coins that drove their raiding and pillaging of land and sea! Even the great, and often maligned, “pirate hunter” Captain William Kidd used these coins to purchase rum and wine for his crew.

Spanish Pillar Dollars are considered by numismatists (including us here at Cannon Beach Treasure Co) one of the most stunning coins ever minted. A transitional currency between the rough "Cob" style Pieces of Eight, and the later Portrait Dollars" this regal design bears the Pillars of Hercules, with the Old and New World between them. The Spanish Crown rests above, under the Latin legend VTRA QUE VNUM: "Two Become One."

Your Chop-marked Spanish Pillar Dollar Treasure Coin

• Date: 1766
• Denomination: 2 Reale
• Mint: Mexico City, Nueva Espana (present day Mexico)
• Ruler: King Charles III of Spain
• Coin Metal: Silver
• Bezel Metal: 14K Gold, Proprietary, non-tarnishing sterling silver 
• Obverse (Front): The Pillars of Hercules, Old and New Worlds, Spanish Crown
• Reverse: (Back): The shield of Spain, featuring Leon and Castile
• Articulating Shackle Bail Interior Diameter: Will accommodate chain or leather necklace up to 6.2mm
• Pendant size including bezel: 1 1/8" Across, 1 5/8" Tall - pendant diameter almost the width of a 50 cent piece

Robert's Notes: Very interesting coin. Sweet Pillars with PLUS ULTRA visible meaning More Beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

Interesting Chinese chop-mark on the obverse. 

What is a Chop-mark?

Ever since coins were invented about 650 BC, there have been nefarious folks out there faking them. Typically, they would make a base metal imitation and then plate it in silver of gold. For thousands of years, people would use punches to put a dent in the surface to see if there was a different color metal below. 

Fast forward to when Spanish "pieces of 8" started entering the Chinese trade markets in the late 1500s. Not long after this, Chinese merchants, and money changers started testing the coins to make sure they were real. They would weigh the coin (to make sure it was its offiacal weight), then take a steal punch with their personal design called a "chop-mark" and punch it into the coin. If it passed the test, this mark told them that they had already tested it and they could accept it again if it circulated back to them in the market place.

What do the Chopmarks Mean?

We may never know the meaning of most chop-marks. Unfortunately, their meanings, if they existed, have long been lost. In most cases, though, the marks were personal identifiers for shroffs, bankers, or merchants. However, the most common chop-marks on the cob coins are tien meaning lord or master, and ju meaning day, sky or heaven.

Chop mark coins are VERY rare compared to standard Spanish colonial coins. 

Your Spanish Pillar Dollar Pendant Comes Complete with:

1. Our 100% Authentic Lifetime Guarantee
2. A Detailed, full color 8 Page Certificate of Authenticity Researched and Written by Robert Lewis Knecht
3. "Pieces of Eight" Historic Brief
4. Coins of the Lost Galleons
5. Treasure Hunters Gazette Booklet
6. Mini Museum Display for when you are not wearing your treasure
7. A Treasure Jewelry Care Card