Friday, 11/09/07
1776 coin turns up in Nashville cemeteryBy SUZANNE NORMAND BLACKWOOD
Staff writer
Famously known as the "piece of eight" and later the "peso," a 1776 Spanish coin called the "8 reales" was found as workers were doing restoration recently on the old Nashville City Cemetery.
The coin was found in the northeastern quadrant of the cemetery by Pat Cummins, staff archaeologist for the Murfreesboro-based Cumberland Research Group, which specializes in mortuary archaeology.
It was found as workers were raising a footstone that had sunk into the ground at the foot of a grave dating to the mid-to-late 19th century.
The coin features a bust of Charles III on one side and a pair of pillars separated by a crowned shield with lions, castles, a pomegranate and the centralized three fleurs-de-lis on the other side. This particular type of "8 reales" is known as the "Milled Bust," and it was the fifth and final type of Spanish colonial silver coin design in the New World.
Fred Zahn, who is on the historic preservation staff for the Metro Historical Commission, said the coin was legal tender in the U.S. until the late 1850s.
"There were huge volumes of them" in the U.S. at the time, he said.
Zahn said one 8 Reales is equal to $1. The "piece of 8" refers to how the coin was often cut into eight wedges.
The phrase "two bits" refers to two of the eight wedges, or 25 cents.
Zahn said he expects the coin was lost and not ceremonially placed at the grave site.
As for its value, Zahn said that would be based on the coin's condition, the significance of its date and its value to the owner.
"What would make it highly collectible is the date, the year of our independence," he said.
However, added Zahn, that doesn't mean the coin's owner was present in the U.S. at that time.
"We don't see them often," said Steve Poole, owner of American Coin in Madison about the 8 reales.
It is somewhat of a rare find, if, indeed, the coin is the real thing, he said.
"There's a very good possibility it could be the real thing, but people have been counterfeiting coins for a long time," he said. "Coin counterfeiting is a huge business."
Poole said many counterfeited coins end up on eBay.
However, Poole said, the value of an actual 8 reales would be between $50 for one in very good condition and $300 for one that never went into circulation.
He said he would have to see the one that was found to know whether it is the real thing.
Zahn said the coin has not been appraised. He hopes that the coin's publicity doesn't encourage people to disturb the cemetery's graves in search for more. He emphasized that the use of metal detectors in cemeteries is illegal.
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