Dollar, a coin, the unit of the monetary system of the United States, as well as of Canada, Mexico, Liberia, and other countries. The name dollar is a variant of the German thaler, and Danish daler. The name arose about the year 1600 in Germany. The Counts of Schlick were then coining ounce-
Copyright 1889 in U.S.
by J. B. Lippincott
Company. pieces from silver obtained in their mines at Joachimsthal (Joachim's Dale) in Bohemia, which gained such high repute as to become standard coins; whence the name Joachimsthaler, which finally, for shortness, took the form of thaler—literally, a 'valley-piece.' The name was soon extended to other coins of similar size—notably to the old Spanish 'piece of eight,' the peso of eight reals. From 1873 to 1878 the gold dollar was the sole standard of value in the United States. This coin contains 25·8 grains of gold of the United States standard of fineness—namely pure gold; the British standard being pure gold. The gold dollar is thus worth about 4s. 2d. sterling. In 1878 the United States government remonetised silver, since which time the United States have had a double standard. The standard silver dollar contains 412½ grains troy of silver, of which is alloy. The silver dollar (like a paper dollar) is exchangeable anywhere in the United States for a gold dollar; although the bullion value of the silver contained in it has come to be considerably less, varying, in fact, with the market price of silver. The dollar is divided into 100 cents; there are silver half and quarter dollars, dimes (10 cents), and half-dimes; and formerly there were also, in paper currency, other fractional denominations. The American trade-dollar of 420 grains is not a legal tender at present, and is only coined for export to China and other Asiatic regions. It is very nearly equivalent in intrinsic value to the Mexican dollar, so long recognised as the standard of values in the Chinese trade. The British at Hong-kong and the Japanese government coin trade-dollars also. The Canadian dollar is about equivalent in value to that of the United States. Among other coins that are, or may be, called dollars from their approximation in value to the United States standards, are the boliviano of Bolivia (silver, about 72 cents); the peso of Spain (97 cents), of Chili (78 cents), of Cuba (92 cents), of the Central American Republics, and of Colombia (80 cents); the sueré of Ecuador (72 cents); the gourde of Haiti (80 cents); the yen of Japan (gold, one dollar; silver, 80 cents); the dollar of Liberia (worth one American dollar); the Mexican peso (75 cents); and the sol of Peru (80 cents); all of them of silver, except when otherwise stated. The thaler, equalling 3 marks, or 71 cents, till 1875 formed the standard of value of almost all northern Germany. The double florin of Great Britain (first struck in 1887) has a value of 4s., and is approximately a dollar.—The derivation of the dollar mark ($) has been variously ascribed to (1) a combination of the initials U.S.; (2) a modification of the figure 8, a piece of eight being formerly indicated by the character 8-8; (3) a form of HS., which marked the Roman unit; (4) the contraction of P and S employed in Spanish accounts to indicate peso; (5) a device formerly seen on the reverse of the Spanish dollar, and again, since 1848, on the peso duro, representing the Pillars of Hercules, and round each a scroll displaying the inscription Plus ultra.