Piece of eight (item)



"To confirm your Lordship and right to be heard, present now your pieces of eight, my fellow cap'ns."

- Hector Barbossa to the Brethren Court

A piece of eight was an important symbol in pirate lore. The term was commonly used in reference to the Spanish silver Dollar, though often became associated with pirate treasure.

History
"Those aren't pieces of eight, they're just pieces of junk!" "Aye, the original plan was to use nine pieces of eight to bind Calypso, but when the First Court met, the Brethren were, to a one skint broke." "So change the name." "What? To 'Nine Pieces of Whatever-We-Happen-to-Have-in-Our-Pockets-at-the-Time?' Oh yes, that sounds very piratey."

- Pintel and Joshamee Gibbs



Each of the nine Pirate Lords agreed to hold a piece of eight to be presented during a meeting of the Brethren Court, though the term came to apply to a variety of items and trinkets as the pirates found themselves short on money. Each piece of eight reflected something about the lord who possessed the piece, and altogether, the nine pieces were used to bind the sea goddess Calypso to a human form, after Davy Jones informed the Brethren on how to capture her.

Pieces of eight were used to call the Brethren Court to assemble at Shipwreck Cove. The sea shanty Hoist the Colours was called forth by Hector Barbossa and sung at Fort Charles during Lord Cutler Beckett's drive to eradicate piracy on the Seven Seas, and the coins reverberated with the song. The nine pieces of eight were burned as part of the ritual to release Calypso prior to the Pirate Lords' battle against the East India Trading Company.

Pieces of eight of the Pirate Lords
"A piece of eight. Nine of them, you say?" "Our new friend in Singapore was very specific, sir. Nine pieces of eight." "What's the significance of that, I wonder?"

- Cutler Beckett and Mercer


 * Small pewter brandy goblet (Ammand) Received from outcast sisters from a Spanish convent. They were outcast for a reason. That reason was Ammand.
 * Wooden eyeball (Hector Barbossa)
 * Queen of Spades playing card (Chevalle) Chevalle is a compulsive gambler. His preferred hands in cards always use this card.
 * Pair of spectacles (Ching) She used these before she went blind.
 * Jade Captain's knot (Sao Feng's father/Sao Feng/Elizabeth Swann) Made from silk from the famous Silk Road and a traditional jade gemstone.
 * Pair of tobacco cutters (Jocard) This is from the plantation where he was enslaved. He used them to cut out his former master's tongue.
 * Siamese coin woven into Moroccan beads (Jack Sparrow) He got the beads from a Moroccan lady of ill repute. The coin is an ancient coin from Siam, one of the first two bits he ever pirated. The other coin? Well, he bought his hat with that one.
 * Calf-horn Snuff box (Sumbhajee Angria) A souvenir from his temple in India.
 * Broken bottle-neck with a cork; on a string (Eduardo Villanueva) This aided Eduardo in winning a famous barfight.



Behind the scenes

 * Original Pieces of eight, also known as Spanish dollars, were first made after a Spanish currency reform in 1497. Each piece of eight was made of silver, and had worth of eight reales.
 * During the third Brethren Court, a pirate thief named Tartaglia attempted to use the Timekeeper as a false Piece of Eight to fool the assembled Pirate Lords into thinking he was one of them. His plan failed and the third Brethren Court ended in violence.
 * In the first screenplay draft of At World's End, Capitaine Chevalle's piece of eight was Magellan's ring, which he lost to Cutler Beckett in the game of cards in the South China Sea some years prior to the Fourth Brethren Court.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
 * The Accidental Pirate!
 * The Capture of Jack Sparrow!
 * In Jack We Trust!
 * A Revolting Development!
 * The Buccaneer's Heart!
 * The Duel!
 * Chain Reaction!
 * The Escape of Pintel and Ragetti!
 * The Haunting of Jack Sparrow!
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)