Pillar dollar Mexico

8 Reales 1769 Mexico (Pillar dollar)

Spanish milled dollar coins a.k.a. "pillar dollars", "real de a ocho" and "piece of eight" were first minted in New Spain (today Mexico) since about 1572. This particular design was minted from 1760 to 1772. Interestingly, they were never produced in Spain, but instead only struck at Spain's New World colonial mints. Mexico City milled pillar coins are easily identified by their mintmark, an M with a small o above.

Pillar dollars were recognized the world over as a reliable medium of exchange, and were, in fact, America's first silver dollar, even serving as legal currency in the United States until 1857. The name "Pillar dollar" comes from the two crowned columns on the obverse which symbolize the "Pillars of Hercules" (the Straights of Gibraltar where the Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas meet.) Between the pillars are the two hemispheres, symbolizing the "Old World" of Spain's metropolis and the "New World" of their South American colonies. Upon the columns is the motto "PLUS ULTRA" (More Beyond), indicative of Spain's continuing colonial expansion. The legend VTRAQUE VNUM (Both in One) is an expression of Spain's oneness with its colonies. The reverse displays the crowned Coat of Arms of Spain, along with the Latin legend "CAROLVS III-D-G-HISPAN-ET IND-REX" (Charles III - By the grace of God; King of Spain and the Indies.)

Spanish Mexican silver coins, including Pillar dollars (1732-1772), were widely used in China as one of its major silver currencies, other than local silver sycees, They chopped and chiseled it to make sure of its purity and the content inside. Even though a silver coin was trusted problem free, its payer would still be requested by the payee to put on his chop on the coin as an evidence of conveyance and guaranty.

These chopmarks were mostly Chinese language characters, some of them were written in so-called "combined characters" that combined two characters into one, Some of them could be used as explicit or secret codes relating to their identities or the purity of tested silvers. Also, some of the chopmarks were also traditional Chinese good luck symbols, such as cash, double-cash, plum flower... etc.

This coin was reviewed by Stephen Tai (many thanks !) who provided the following comments:

"On your coin, there are some Chinese characters and one symbol can be recognized, i.e., "Shan"(Mountain), "S'an" (Up), "Da"(Big), "Yuan"(Dollar, Initial, Beginning), "Gong"(Work, Labor), "Li"(Effort, Power) and a Buddist symbol called "Wan". According to my classification and estimate, smaller chopmarks are a peculiarity of the chopmarks in 18th century and earlier. Later on, they were showing mainly in Shanghai and its neighboring areas, such as Checkiang or Jiangsu provinces, while in the Southern China, Kuangtung and Fujien, in particular, were using bigger chops since ever. In your case, the host coin is bearing chopmarks in the smaller size and dated within the earlier timeline, its being is logical."