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This famous coin, familiar to all readers of "Treasure Island," was called by the Spaniards a "peso de ocho reales"; a name which the English half-translated, half-parodied into "piece of eight." It is almost impossible to give anything like an exact value for the old Spanish coins, but a "real" has usually been worth. a little more than an American nickle, so that a coin worth eight reales would be worth from forty to fifty cents. The "piece of eight" is the modern Mexican and Panamanian dollar, worth half as much as one of ours. Our dollar sign is derived from the sign used to indicate "pieces of eight" in the old account books; an eight canceled with two vertical lines (to keep it from being added up with the other figures), thus:. This sign became, because it is quicker and easier to write an S, than an 8.

A careful official estimate has been made by the Canal Commission of the value to the Commission at the present time of the franchises, equipment, material, work done, and property of various kinds for which the United States paid the French Canal Company $40,000,000. It places the total value at $42,799,826, divided as follows: