10 Bits

Martinique's "bits" were not a native denomination but a pragmatic solution to a chronic coin shortage that plagued the French Caribbean throughout the eighteenth century. Spanish colonial reales, the dominant specie in circulation across the region, were counterstamped and officially revalued to function within the local monetary system. The 10 Bits designation placed this piece near the top of that hierarchy.

KM#10 corresponds to a counterstamped Spanish colonial 8 reales — the ubiquitous "piece of eight" — with the stamp applied under French colonial authority to legitimize its local circulation at a fixed rate. The 1764 date reflects the period of counterstamping, not necessarily the host coin's own mint date.