where did the bitt, like 2 bitts 4 bitts 6 bitts a dollars come from.?

Question

I was the commander of the sons of the american legion for 6 years and still an actctive menber. we had a talk about where the bit come from. Everyone knew that a bitt was 12/1/2 cents. Where was the origination. I live in texas, thanks for the response.

Answer 1

The "bit" comes from being able to cut a Spanish coin into 8 equal pieces. In other words, "Pieces of Eight." It took 8 bits of the coin to make a full Spanish Dollar, thus 2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar. It was later used in terms of an American Dollar. 2 bits was equal to 25 cents. No one ever used the term 1 bit when referring to the American dollar.

Answer 2

My guess is it is derived from the Spanish colonial 'pieces of 8' or 8 reales coins which circulated in the US as silver dollars until 1878. A one real coin was 12 1/2 cents, as you said, and two reales was 25 cents.

Answer 3

Early Americans often used Spanish dollars which were often physically cut into eight "bits", or sometimes four quarters, to make smaller change. This is the origin of the colloquial name "pieces of eight" for the coin, and of "quarter" and "two bits" for twenty-five cents in the United States

Answer 4

The world's most common coinage in the 18th & 19th century was the Spanish silver Peso, minted in various parts of the western hemisphere including Mexico. They were widely used in pre & post revolutionary US. They were commonly cut into quarters or eighths (some even had etch lines stamped in them to facilitate the process) to make change in smaller denominations. From this came the term "pieces of eight," for an eighth bit & "quarter" for two bits.

Answer 5

Quarters were broken into pieces in the 19th century. Hence, 2 bits was 25 cents.