What are the nine pieces of eight?

Answer 1

In the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the nine pieces of eight are nine objects which belong to the nine pirate leaders who bound the sea-goddess Calypso to a human body. Although they are called pieces of eight, they are actually just "whatever we had in our pockets at the time," but are called pieces of eight because that sounds more "piratey."

A true piece of eight is an old golden Spanish coin. In the days when these were used as currency, these coins were sometimes cut into eight pieces, or "bits", each of which had one-eighth of the value of a full coin. Long after the pieces of eight were common currency, some Americans referred to an eighth of a dollar as a "bit." In the musical "Oklahoma," for example, people bidding at an auction bid "two bits" (a quarter), or "four bits" (fifty cents).

Answer 2

The nine pieces of eight are eight silver coins and a gold medallion, used as a pirate's treasure in legends and stories. Each pirate crew member would hold one coin as a sign of their loyalty and trust, with the medallion representing the captain's share.