Peso

The peso (meaning weight in Spanish, or more loosely pound) was a coin that originated in Spain and became of immense importance internationally. Peso is now the name of the monetary unit of several former Spanish colonies.

Origin and history

1537–1686 piece of eight

Peso was a name given in Spain and particularly in Hispanic America to the 8-royal coin or real de a ocho, a large silver coin of the type commonly known as a thaler (dollar) in Europe. It had a legal weight of 27.468 g and a millesimal fineness of 930.5 (25.561 g fine silver). This real de a ocho or peso was minted in Spain from the mid 16th century, and even more prolifically in Spanish America, in the mints of Mexico and Peru. It was originally known as the "piece of eight" in English, due to the nominal value of 8 reales.

The piece of eight became a coin of worldwide importance in the 17th century, especially in trade with India and the Far East, where it was immediately melted down. At this time, the piece of eight was produced in Mexico and Peru in a rapid and simplified manner. Instead of making a proper flan or planchet, a lump of silver of proper weight and fineness was cut off the end of a silver bar, then flattened out and impressed by a hammer. The result was a crude, temporary coin, an irregular lump of silver. This type of coin became known as a cob in English, or a macuquina in Spanish. The Crown was entitled to a fifth of all gold and silver mined, the Quinto Real (royal fifth), and cobs were a convenient means of handling and accounting for silver. Although intended to serve only temporarily, some did remain in circulation as currency. Because of their irregular shape and incomplete design, cobs were ideal candidates for clipping and counterfeiting.

Peso (song)

"Peso" is a song by American hip hop recording artist ASAP Rocky, produced by his ASAP Mob cohort, ASAP Ty Beats. The song, released as Rocky's debut single, is also the lead single from his critically acclaimed breakout mixtape Live. Love. ASAP (2011). The song contains a sample of The S.O.S. Band's "No One's Gonna Love You", from their 1984 album Just the Way You Like It.

Music video

On December 13, 2011, the music video, directed by Abteen Bagheri, premiered on MTV2.

Chart history

The song has peaked at #75 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

References

Argentine peso

The peso (originally established as the peso convertible) is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS. Several earlier currencies of Argentina were also called "peso"; as inflation progressed a new currency with a few zeroes dropped and a different qualifier (peso national currency, peso law 18188, peso argentino...) was introduced. Since 1970, thirteen zeroes have been dropped (a factor of ten trillion).

In recent times the official exchange rate hovered around 3 pesos per United States dollar from 2002 to 2008, was around 4 pesos from 2009 to 2011, surpassed 6 pesos in November 2013, sat at 6.5 pesos per dollar during December 2013. As of October 2014, the exchange rate was about 8 pesos per dollar, by February 2015, it was 9 per USD,and by December of the same year, 13 pesos per USD, after a record of 14.

History

Amounts in earlier pesos were sometimes preceded by a "$" sign and sometimes, particularly in formal use, by symbols identifying that it was a specific currency, for example $m/n100 or m$n100 for pesos moneda nacional. The peso introduced in 1992 is just called peso (sometimes peso convertible), and is written preceded by a "$" sign only. Earlier pesos replaced currencies also called peso, and sometimes two varieties of peso coexisted, making it necessary to have a distinguishing term to use, at least in the transitional period; the 1992 peso replaced a currency with a different name, austral.