pieces of eight

One-ounce, Spanish silver coins worth one Sparnish dollar, one Silver Peso or eight Reales, sometimes literally cut into eight pieces, each worth one Real. The coins were minted for several centuries, often manufactured in the Spanish Americas, and widely used around the world until the 19th century. The crudeness of its shape led Ireland and the British colonies to refer to them and other Spanish coins as a "cobs."