Spanish dollar

The Spanish dollar, originally known as the piece of eight (Spanish: real de a ocho, peso duro, peso fuerte or peso), and much later also dólar, is a silver coin of about 38 mm (1.5 in) diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire, following a monetary reform in 1497, with content 25.563 g (0.8219 ozt) fine silver. It was widely used as the first international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. Some countries countermarked the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency.

Because the Spanish dollar was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the 16th century.

The Spanish dollar was the coin upon which the original United States dollar was based, at 0.7735 troy ounces (24.06 g), and it remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. Many other currencies around the world, such as the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, were initially based on the Spanish dollar and other eight-real coins. Most theories trace the origin of the "$" symbol, which originally had two vertical bars, to the Pillars of Hercules wrapped in ribbons that appear on the reverse side of the Spanish dollar.

The term peso was used in Spanish to refer to this denomination, and it became the basis for many of the currencies in the former Spanish viceroyalties, including the Argentine, Bolivian, Chilean, Colombian, Costa Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Paraguayan, Philippine, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, Salvadoran, Uruguayan, and Venezuelan pesos. Of these, peso remains the name of the official currency in the Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.