Spanish American gold coins were minted in one-half, one, two, four, and eight escudo denominations, with each
escudo worth around two
Spanish dollars or $2. The two-escudo (or $4 coin) was the "doubloon" or "
pistole", and the large eight-escudo (or $16) was a "quadruple pistole". English nomenclature was confusing, though, since the $8 "double pistole" was the doubloon in English usage, while the $16 "quadruple pistole" was the doubloon in American colonial usage. This was disambiguated in references by calling the $4 the
common doubloon or simply
doubloon, the $8 the
doubloon of four (escudos), and the $16 the
doubloon of eight.
Spanish America did the same (see
:es:doblón,
Brasher doubloon). After the
War of 1812, doubloons of eight were valued in
Nova Scotia at the rate of £4 and became the dominant coin there. Doubloons, when exchanged for
$4 or 32
reales in silver, traded at a high gold-silver ratio of 16 (since each real contained 3.833 g of 0.917 silver). Since the prevailing ratio in Europe was 15 in most of the 18th century, doubloons occasionally traded at a discount to this amount, at 30–32
reales. In Spain, doubloons were current for $4 (four
duros, or 80
reales de vellón) up to the middle of the 19th century.
Isabella II of Spain switched to an
escudo-based coinage with decimal
reales in 1859, and replaced the 6.77-gram
doblón with a new heavier
doblón worth $5 (five
duros, or 100
reales) and weighing 8.3771 grams (0.268 troy ounces). The last Spanish doubloons (showing the denomination as 80
reales) were minted in 1849. After their independence, the former
Spanish Viceroyalties of Mexico, Peru and New Granada continued to mint doubloons. ==In other countries==