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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Of lesser value were needed as change to balance out a purchase, it was common practice for a merchant actually, with a small axe or cutting tool, to chop or cut a piece of eight (the Spanish dollar coin) into eight equal smaller "bits," each bit being worth one-eighth of the Spanish dollar. Hence, "two bits" was worth one-quarter of a dollar, "four "bits" was equal to one-half of a dollar, and so forth. And the people actually called these small pieces of chopped-up coins "bits."..."^ August 15, 2018, coinweek.com: History of Coins – TWO-BITS, FOUR-BITS, SIX-BITS, EIGHT…, backup Quote: "...The most widely circulated of these was the piece of eight, which, when supplies of smaller denomination coins dwindled were chopped or cut into smaller pieces to make change. Thus, one eighth of eight-reales became one bit, one quarter two-bits–the equivalent of our present day quarter-dollar. One-half is four-bits and three quarters are six-bits. Many believe these expressions to be slang, yet, history suggests they are perfectly good nomenclature...When making plans for a monetary system, the United States considered using one similar to the real system. This was because it was the most common system used in the USA at the time, and was familiar to most citizens. A system based on the piece of eight was agreed to and renamed “dollar” in the 1780s..."^ Murray N. Rothbard. "The Mystery of Banking" (pdf), p.10, referenced 2009-08-24.^ Library of Congress. "An Act regulating the currency of foreign coins in the United
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