Silver 8 reales of the Republic of Peru, countermarked in Manila

This 8 reales coin (a 'piece of eight', also called a silver dollar) was minted in Peru in 1828 and countermarked at Manila in the Philippines later in the same year.One of the main sources of silver coinage in South-east Asia were the Spanish trading settlements in the Philippines. The main trade route between colonial Spanish America and China crossed the Pacific Ocean from Acapulco in Mexico to Manila in the Philippines. Spanish American silver 8 reales coins became the most important large denomination throughout South-east Asia. When Spain lost its American territories, the Spanish colonies in the Philippines overstamped the coins of the new independent Latin American republics, as occurred with this example.