Those bearing gifts to mother — encircled by pieces of eight (3,4)
I believe the answer is:
the magi
'those bearing gifts' is the definition.
(the wise men in the Nativity story)
'mother encircled by pieces of eight' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'encircled by' is an insertion indicator.
'pieces of' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'eight' with letters rearranged gives 'thegi'.
'ma' inserted inside 'thegi' is 'THE MAGI'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for the magi that I've seen before include "Journeymen" , "Eastern sages" .)