Caribbean Coinage!
So on a whim I decided to look into the money of the time the Heyder family. Pieces of Eight, Doubloons, Guineas are all common and popular sorts of money in pirate fiction, but what the hell do they actually mean? More importantly, what value did they hold among the everyday people living in the time? Well here’s what I think I’ve worked out, feel free to correct any mistakes I’ve made in my reading...
(Pictured: reproduction Pieces of Eight)
First we’ve got Spanish coinage, which generally consists of the Real, the Peso, the Escudo, the Pistole, and the Onza. The Real was the base coin, and it along with the Peso were made of silver. A single Peso was worth eight Reales, hence the nickname of “Piece of Eight”. An Escudo was a gold coin, and it was worth two Pesos. The “doubloon” was an English slang term for any Spanish gold coin, but it is commonly assumed to have meant to be in referral to the Pistole coin, as the name derives from “double” - hence, a Double Escudo. Spanish coin was largely considered the most valuable and profitable coinage in the Caribbean as it was for a long time the only coin minted in the New World.
8 Reales = 1 Peso (Piece of Eight)
2 Pesos = 1 Escudo
2 Escudo = 1 Pistole (Doubloon)
8 Escudo = 1 Onza
(Pictured: 17th century English Shilling)
Next is the English currency, which fun fact, is the world’s oldest longest running form of currency in history. Anyway, the English coinage consists of the Farthing, the Half-Penny (Hay Penny), the Penny (plurally known as Pence), the Shilling, the Crown, the Pound, and the Guinea. The Pound and the Guinea were nominally equal, just the Pound was silver and the Guinea was gold. Because of this, when the value of gold relative to silver went up, the Guinea could be worth up to 20% more than a Pound, but for simplicity’s sake I’ll keep them equal here (by the time Devil’s Eye begins anyway, the Guinea had been legally fixed at around that value anyway). The Guinea was also the second coin to be minted in the New World, starting around the 1660s, and thus became the primary competitor to the Spanish coinage system.
2 Farthings = 1 Half-Penny
4 Farthings = 1 Penny
12 Pence = 1 Shilling
5 Shillings = 1 Crown
20 Shillings, or 4 Crowns = 1 Pound
Now what gets interesting is the intersection between the English and Spanish values. Per weight and volume of precious metals, a Pound Sterling was equivalent to one Peso. Thus, a Doubloon was quadruple the value of a Guinea, which is probably why it is specifically “Spanish Gold” that seems to hold so much value in nautical fiction over any other coinage. For the curious, it takes 24 Pence to equal a Spanish Reale.
(Pictured: Dutch Lion Dollar from 1660)
The only Dutch coinage I found much reading on during this time period for colonial trade was Lion Dollar. Intentionally designed for international trade it’s value fluctuated between four and five Shillings, so it’s roughly equal to an English Crown. The English liked to mockingly call these “dog dollars” due to the fact it featured not a monarch (for the Netherlands had none) but a lion printed on it. I don’t have much to add here, if anyone knows more about international Dutch coinage and trade during the 17th and 18th centuries I’d like to hear about it. And of course, with simple math, we can surmise that it takes four to five Lion Dollars to equal a Pound, and thus 16 to 20 of them to equal a Doubloon.
(Pictured: a Louis d’Or from 1640)
Lastly there’s the French currency, which I honestly have found conflicting or at least unclear sources on. Gold Louis, or Louis d’Ors, are the gold standard from the 1640s onwards, originally meant to be equal in value to the Spanish Escudo (Doubloon). Historically what really made them important is that they were among the first machine-minted coins ever made, resulting in their symmetrical roundness, making chipping their edges for shavings difficult to do undetected.
Before the Louis d’Or came to be, French money was sort of a disorganized mess. Compared to the rest of Europe, France was still using coins dating back to the middle ages and late antiquity, namely the Livre which was supposed to equal a pound of silver, the Sou, which 20 were the equivalent to one Livre, and the Denier, which 12 were the equivalent to one Sou. These values were kept when the Louis d’Or was minted, and brought into line to equal the following:
48 Livres = 1 Double Louis d’Or
24 Livres = 1 Louis d’Or
12 Livres = 1 Demi- Louis d’Or
6 Livres = 1 Louis d’Argent (Silver Coin)
20 Sou = 1 Livre
12 Denier = 1 Sou
Curiously, there was never minted a 1 Livre coin. Also, the Denier was minted in values of 3 and 6. The Livre was cancelled as an actual coin, but kept as a unit of measurement of value. The Sou was about the same value as an English Penny, and as stated earlier the intent of the Louis d’Or was to equal the Spanish Pistole in value.
It takes 192 Pence to equal a Pound, which is roughly the same as a Peso/Piece of Eight. It takes four Pesos to equal a Pistole, which is the commonly accepted value for a Doubloon. So it takes 768 Pence to equal a Doubloon.
But if 20 Sou equals a Livre, and a Louis d’Or is worth 24 Livre, that means a Louis d’Or is worth only 480 Sou... but the Sou was thought to be equal to the Penny. How come the Louis d’Or is worth almost double that much? Could it be it was the Denier that is worth as much as a Penny? In that case, a Louis d’Or would be worth as much as 5760 Pence! So I really have no idea what’s going on with the value of the Louis d’Or. It could be information is just incomplete or even as simple as contradictory, but regardless it is amusing that France felt obligated to make their national gold currency the most valuable of the lot.
So what all the fuss for this anyway? Well in Devil’s Eye, when the Heyder family comes to join the crew of Captain Hurley’s Barracuda, the ship is sorely lacking in remaining crew. She has her captain, the navigator, the cook and carpenter, and a doctor. Part of what led to their financial woes once they surrendered piracy? A diminished crew means no purser and no quartermaster. Ravyn may be strong willed and witty, but economical she is not - nor is the helmsman Amir, the cook and carpenter Singlung, or their doctor calling himself Tripoli.
Fortunately for them, the Heyders joining brings along a very well traveled and financially savvy man in Robert... so it falls to him to manage the Barracuda’s finances and supply logistics. His daughter Helen and son Jacob are adept assistants in the matter as well.
“With Captain Ravyn’s habits, it’s a pretty thankless job at that. For someone who wants all of the money ever, she’s pretty irresponsible at throwing it around without making sure the exchanges are right.”
“You know when you tell someone you don’t have the time or money to make something happen, and they tell you to make it happen anyway? That’s Captain Hurley.”
“It’s a uniquely Ravyn sort of headache. I don’t have to put up with that nonsense with La Demonia’s crew at least.”
