piece of eight

The "piece of eight" was the nickname of the spanish "peso," which was the rough equivalent of the American dollar in early America; the peso was acceped coin in much of the Americas,particularly during the period when the stores of Spanish ships were regularly stripped by pirates on the waters off the Americas and "redistributed" throughout coastal towns. The nickname "piece of eight" derived from the fact that the peso was equal to eight "reals" and therefore has the numeral 8 stamped on it. The "piece of eight" was sometimes actually cut into pieces,or bits, and one popular size was one-quarter of a "piece of eight" or two bits. As a consequence,the U.S. quarter of a dollar is sometimes refered to today as two-bits, particularly in the western part of the country. A visitor to that area,if told "It'll be two-bits," should take it that the price of an item is being given.