Counterfeit Spanish Milled Dollars
by Marc Mayhugh
from The C4 Newsletter, Spring 2005 Volume 13, No. 1
The Spanish milled dollar, or "piece of eight", was one of the most extensively counterfeited coins of
colonial times. This was due largely to its purchasing power, and its popularity as a medium of exchange.
The coin was first produced in 1732 with the famous Pillar design, later this design was replaced with the
bust of the King of Spain. Made primarily of New World silver, and adhering to the highest standards, the
milled dollars were the world's most important coins, the yardstick by which all other coins were
measured, and thus subject to counterfeiting.
.
Contemporary records abound with accounts of counterfeited Spanish dollars. It has been stated that
counterfeit eight reales appeared immediately after the establishment of the Spanish - American mints, and
reached a zenith in the period of 1790-1820, with the production of countless milled dollars.1 Many
times, the counterfeiting resulted in very poorly executed specimans, while at other times, sophisticated
pieces that rivaled official production were created. The range of counterfeiting ran from being cast in
colonial cellars, to being struck on high speed machinery in Birmingham,England, and covered everything in
between. Pradaeu, in his book, Numismatic History of Mexico attests to the diversity of counterfeitng
activitites stating, " The source of many spurious eight reales coins can be attributed to the Chinese; to the
aborigines of New Spain; to the Spanish adventurers plying the Pacific Ocean between North America
and the Orient; a large number originated in Birmingham, England; not a few in Baltimore, and without
doubt some in New York City."2
As noted above, there were many different ways to make counterfeit Spanish dollars, some were quite
simple and crude, while others were amazingly complex. Pradeau , relying on earlier writers, has best
condensed the different processes required to make spurious coins, and he lists the classifications as such:
(1) Pieces made of an Alloy of silver and copper or other base metal;
(2) A copper sheet veneered on both sides with a thin plate of silver. Then passed through a rolling mill
until reduced to the required thickness; subsequently, dollar size discs were then stamped out the strip and
provided with an edge;
(3) Silver plated disks of tin;
(4) Copper cores to which were soldered thinned out obverses and reverses of genuine "pieces of eight"
and
(5) Authentic coins submitted to strong presure, then cut to regulation size and re-struck, thus resulting in a
thinner specimen with 80 to 100 grains of silver less than legal.3
Method (2) appears to be the process used in Birmingham and is one of the most deceptive. This
procedure became available with the advent of “Sheffield Plate� developed by Thomas Boulsover
in 1742. Boulsover discovered that a 1 inch thick block of copper could be covered by a 1/8 inch coating
of silver then hammered and rolled into thin plates. Later, in 1765, both sides could be plated and by 1788
the process was perfected when it was found the edges of the cut plate “could be successfully hidden
by the soldering on of silver wire".4 In this fashion the most genuine appearing eight reales could be
cheaply manufactured. In a small pamphlet by A, Y. Akerman a counterfeit eight reale is plated which the
author claims was a “Counterfeit Spanish Milled dollar having received over a hundred chops and was
circulated extensively for some years among the Chinese, who never suspected that it was copper plated
with silver"5.
An early work by J.R. Riddell's called , Monograph of the Silver Dollar: Good and Bad, differentiates
between two types of counterfeit dollars, those struck from dies and those that are cast . Of the cast he
notes, a mold is made, "into which some alloy of lead, antimony, tin, zinc &c., analogous to type metal is
poured in a melted state." He points out that while these pieces are perfect facsimilies of the genuine, they
are much too soft, and light, and can't be made to ring like the genuine, and, "hence are easily detected".6
Most counterfeit eight reales made in the colonies probably fall into this category. It is hard to imagine that
the technology existed in the American colonies to produce struck counterfeit Spanish milled dollars, yet
Scott's Counterfeiting in Colonial America contains documentary evidence suggesting that this was indeed
possible.
by Marc Mayhugh
from The C4 Newsletter, Spring 2005 Volume 13, No. 1
The Spanish milled dollar, or "piece of eight", was one of the most extensively counterfeited coins of
colonial times. This was due largely to its purchasing power, and its popularity as a medium of exchange.
The coin was first produced in 1732 with the famous Pillar design, later this design was replaced with the
bust of the King of Spain. Made primarily of New World silver, and adhering to the highest standards, the
milled dollars were the world's most important coins, the yardstick by which all other coins were
measured, and thus subject to counterfeiting.
.
Contemporary records abound with accounts of counterfeited Spanish dollars. It has been stated that
counterfeit eight reales appeared immediately after the establishment of the Spanish - American mints, and
reached a zenith in the period of 1790-1820, with the production of countless milled dollars.1 Many
times, the counterfeiting resulted in very poorly executed specimans, while at other times, sophisticated
pieces that rivaled official production were created. The range of counterfeiting ran from being cast in
colonial cellars, to being struck on high speed machinery in Birmingham,England, and covered everything in
between. Pradaeu, in his book, Numismatic History of Mexico attests to the diversity of counterfeitng
activitites stating, " The source of many spurious eight reales coins can be attributed to the Chinese; to the
aborigines of New Spain; to the Spanish adventurers plying the Pacific Ocean between North America
and the Orient; a large number originated in Birmingham, England; not a few in Baltimore, and without
doubt some in New York City."2
As noted above, there were many different ways to make counterfeit Spanish dollars, some were quite
simple and crude, while others were amazingly complex. Pradeau , relying on earlier writers, has best
condensed the different processes required to make spurious coins, and he lists the classifications as such:
(1) Pieces made of an Alloy of silver and copper or other base metal;
(2) A copper sheet veneered on both sides with a thin plate of silver. Then passed through a rolling mill
until reduced to the required thickness; subsequently, dollar size discs were then stamped out the strip and
provided with an edge;
(3) Silver plated disks of tin;
(4) Copper cores to which were soldered thinned out obverses and reverses of genuine "pieces of eight"
and
(5) Authentic coins submitted to strong presure, then cut to regulation size and re-struck, thus resulting in a
thinner specimen with 80 to 100 grains of silver less than legal.3
Method (2) appears to be the process used in Birmingham and is one of the most deceptive. This
procedure became available with the advent of “Sheffield Plate� developed by Thomas Boulsover
in 1742. Boulsover discovered that a 1 inch thick block of copper could be covered by a 1/8 inch coating
of silver then hammered and rolled into thin plates. Later, in 1765, both sides could be plated and by 1788
the process was perfected when it was found the edges of the cut plate “could be successfully hidden
by the soldering on of silver wire".4 In this fashion the most genuine appearing eight reales could be
cheaply manufactured. In a small pamphlet by A, Y. Akerman a counterfeit eight reale is plated which the
author claims was a “Counterfeit Spanish Milled dollar having received over a hundred chops and was
circulated extensively for some years among the Chinese, who never suspected that it was copper plated
with silver"5.
An early work by J.R. Riddell's called , Monograph of the Silver Dollar: Good and Bad, differentiates
between two types of counterfeit dollars, those struck from dies and those that are cast . Of the cast he
notes, a mold is made, "into which some alloy of lead, antimony, tin, zinc &c., analogous to type metal is
poured in a melted state." He points out that while these pieces are perfect facsimilies of the genuine, they
are much too soft, and light, and can't be made to ring like the genuine, and, "hence are easily detected".6
Most counterfeit eight reales made in the colonies probably fall into this category. It is hard to imagine that
the technology existed in the American colonies to produce struck counterfeit Spanish milled dollars, yet
Scott's Counterfeiting in Colonial America contains documentary evidence suggesting that this was indeed
possible.
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