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 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 worth one; skint broke." "So change the name." "To 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. 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? [&hellip;] What's the significance of that, I wonder?"

- Cutler Beckett to Mercer


 * Small pewter cup (Ammand)
 * Ragetti's wooden eyeball (Hector Barbossa)
 * King of spades playing card (Chevalle)
 * Small reading glasses (Ching)
 * Monkey fist necklace (Sao Feng/Elizabeth Swann)
 * Pair of tobacco clippers (Jocard)
 * Piece of eight woven into a lock of hair (Jack Sparrow)
 * Animal's horn (Sumbhajee)
 * Neck of a broken bottle (Eduardo Villanueva)

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End