Name/TitleSpanish Silver Dollar, 1774
About this objectThe Spanish dollar (also known as the piece of eight or the eight-real coin) is a silver coin of approximately 38 mm diameter, worth eight reales, that was minted in the Spanish empire after a Spanish currency reform in 1497.
In Australia, in the colony of New South Wales, Spanish dollars sent by the British government had their centers punched out to make two coins from each dollar. This created the first official currency produced specifically for circulation in Australia, known as Holey Dollars and Dumps.
The Spanish dollar was the coin upon which the original United States dollar was based, and it remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. Because it was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the late 18th century. Aside from the U.S. dollar, several other existing currencies, such as the Canadian dollar, the Chinese yuan, several currencies in Latin America and the Philippine peso, were all initially based on the Spanish dollar and other 8-reales coins.
Date Made1774
Period18th century
Medium and MaterialsSilver
Measurements38 mm diameter
Object TypeCurrency and Shares
Object numberSF000853
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
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The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art