Hey-oooooooooo! Let's take a close look at one of the nicer Silver Shield rounds (in my opinion), the Silver Shield Pieces of Eight 1oz silver round. Golden State Mint does a killer job with the Silver Shield collection, the attention to detail and the VARIETY of offerings is second to none.
For me, it begins with the frosted finish. A good number of the silver shield rounds have this finish and I think it looks great. Let's look at the details on the "skull side". Across the top is the phrase "Praedatum In Mundo", which translates into “A Predatory World”.
Here is some cool info from the GSM website:
The Silver Shield Pieces of Eight was styled after the original Spanish Dollar or Eight Reales coin. Like the original Spanish Dollar, the twin pillars of Hercules are adorned with the early manifest destiny motto of the Spanish Empire, PLVS VLTR, or "further beyond". These adorned pillars are also the reason why we have the dollar sign ($) today. For many years of early American history, the Spanish Dollar was used as the official currency of the new colonies.
I also like the crossed swords on the skull side, ensuring one sword handle on each piece (of the eight).
Looking closer at the other side we can see that each section is marked with its weight and purity.
Each section..........marked with its own weight.......as if it were meant to.......
So lemme just score it down the middle.....then quarter one side and.........
Voila!
Ahhhh, sooooo satisfying but it's too bad this silver has lost all its value since I chopped it up.
What? Oh yeah, right. IT HASN'T!! I just have some fractional silver now. One fraction worth about $7 and four fractions worth about $1.90 each. :)
Try that with your US debt notes!
You can pick yourself up one or five of these pieces of eight at the Golden State Mint
