Object of the month for May 2011

Each month we will feature a different item relating to the Museum with a unique
story to tell.

Piece of Eight 1677

Image copyright Museum of London

This month we celebrate the opening of Pirates: The Captain Kidd Story by sharing
with you a classic object associated with all things pirate, a genuine piece of eight
that will be on display in the exhibition.
This coin was recovered from the wreck of a Spanish ship, the Santa Maria de la
Consolación.
In 1681 she was carrying coins, silver and gold bars for Panama when she was
sighted by the pirate Bartholomew Roberts.
He gave chase but she ran aground on Santa Clara Island, Ecuador, and was
wrecked.
The legendary pieces of eight were made of silver mined by enslaved people from
the Potosi Mountain mine in Bolivia.
From the late 1500s the Spanish shipped silver and gold from the mine to Spain via
Panama.
These valuable shipments attracted the attention of pirates from Sir Francis Drake
onwards.
The silver was made into crude bars and chopped into rough disks. Shears were
then used to cut the disks to roughly the right size. They were then stamped with the
features you see here.

Because the dies (metal stamps) wore out quickly, many pieces of eight often looked
poorly made.

Uncover more from the high seas when our exhibition opens on the 20 May 2011.