The First U.S. Silver Dollars

First US silver dollar coin -- was Spanish?

Yup… the first silver dollar coin in America was the Spanish eight real piece.

Known as a Piece Of Eight -- mainly struck in Mexico -- it was the most common coin in circulation among the thirteen colonies prior to, and even after, independence.

The eight real coin, often appears in American coin collections. It is highly regarded as an important part of the colonial American economy.

The coin was accepted at the value of one dollar.

Also known as the Spanish Milled Dollar, it was often the unit of account for a substantial amount of colonial currency.

The first type of silver dollar coin struck by the US Mint, shown above, was similar in size and weight to the contemporary Spanish coin.

The Not So Round Ones Came First

These were the original pieces of eight. Unlike the Spanish Milled Dollars that came later, these coins were irregular in shape.

This was due to their crude method of manufacture. Bars of high grade silver were extruded at the mint. Pieces of the proper weight were sliced from the bars, then struck by hand, one at a time, using a hammer, a punch, and an anvil. Hand cut dies were embedded in the anvil and the punch.

To strike the coin, the coiner placed a pre-heated piece of silver upon the anvil, positioned the punch atop the silver. A heavy hammer blow drove the punch into the silver, and the silver into the anvil, impressing images into both sides of the freshly minted coin.

Roundness was not an issue – more important was weight and purity of the metal.

Then, The Round Ones – Spanish Milled Dollars

These came later – beginning in 1732 at the Mexico City mint. The consistently round shape of the Spanish Milled Dollars, as they were known, came from improvements in the manufacturing process – the screw press and collar, as used in European mints.

As small change was scarce in the colonies, these coins were often cut into pieces as small as one eighth. These were known as bits – so 2 bits was a quarter dollar, 4 bits equaled fifty cents.

Interestingly, the stock exchange in New York priced shares in eighths of a dollar, based on the colonial practice of cutting the Spanish silver dollar coin into pieces.

Legal Tender

In 1794 the newly organized US Mint at Philadelphia began production of the first official US silver dollar coin. However, the Spanish coin and its Mexican successors remained legal tender in the United States until 1857.

As you can see, Silver coinage was the base of the financial foundation that your country was built upon.

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