The Spanish Pistole, A Gold Coin Which Saw Service In Early America

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Many Spanish coins circulated in the American colonies including the Spanish Pistole or two escudo coin.

The term "Pistole" was originally a French word and how it was applied to first a French coin and then a Spanish coin is unclear. The "French Pistole" was a name applied to the Louis d'Or. Both of these coins were worth around four dollars or 16 British shillings in Colonial times.


Spain 2 Escudos "Pistole" 1776 Madrid Charles III
Gold, 23.0 mm, 6.74 gm

Spanish Pistoles were minted in Spain and at Spanish colonial mints including Mexico and Peru.

In 1766 Benjamin Franklin visited Gottingen University in Germany where he was interviewed by a professor.

"Hard money, as said before, is still scarce in the colonies, and more so in North America than in some of the Sugar Islands (Caribbean islands)."

"The coinage most current in the colonies in business is the Spanish pieces of eight and Spanish gold pistoles. The first are worth in England 4s. 8d., in the colonies 7s. 6d. The latter are worth only 27s. They would be higher, but generally they are so clipped and cut that their value has fallen."