While the Spanish 8 reales was commonly cut, it actually didn't have great affordances for it. There were two common types in the colonial era-- one had the mo

While the Spanish 8 reales was commonly cut, it actually didn't have great affordances for it. There were two common types in the colonial era-- one had the monarch's portrait, and one had two globes between two pillars. Both types featured a coat of arms that if you squinted hard might have some quadrant lines in them, but they'd be raised-- making them harder to use as cut lines. Aside from cutting the larger coins, Spanish territories also produced a lot of low-denomination silver coins. You can see this reflected in the scarcity of early US quarters; the 2-real coin was legal tender until 1857, so there was less pressure to produce quarters than dimes during the early years of limited mint capacity.