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The Origin Of The Sign Of The Dollar

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Thor

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I'm wondering if anyone here has ever investigated the claim that the sign of the dollar is in fact what many people claim it to be, i.e., the letter, U with an S written over the top of it for United States.

I've done a little research into this and I think that claim to be wrong.

My case in point, here's a little piece written by Mark Brader that explores this question in a little more depth: http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxorigin.html

The above article is typical of many other articles I have found that discuss the origin of the sign of the dollar.

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The Spaniards were using the symbol in the 1750s IIRC.

The dollar itself isn't even a US invention, really. In the 1500s if not earlier large silver coins were made in Joachimsthal (now Jachymov in Czechia), originally called Joachimsthalers, which got shortened to "thaler" in western europe (and Yefimok in Russia, but that's another story); the th was pronounced "t" in Germany, so it sounds like "taller" and you can imagine it was a short step from there to "dollar". The Spanish 8 reales coin was "dollar" sized, and circulated widely in the English colonies. In fact it was more common than English coinage. The 8 reales was called the Spanish Dollar. The Mexican peso also historically derives from it, though the peso has been inflated/debased a lot more. And the peso uses the "dollar" sign as well.

Anyhow, Thor, given what you said in a different thread I thought you'd be pleased to hear that historically the dollar is a large silver coin weighing 25-27 grams or so. Pegging it to gold (other than via a government dictated weight ratio of silver to gold--bad idea) was a much later development.

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The Spaniards were using the symbol in the 1750s IIRC.

The dollar itself isn't even a US invention, really. In the 1500s if not earlier large silver coins were made in Joachimsthal (now Jachymov in Czechia), originally called Joachimsthalers, which got shortened to "thaler" in western europe (and Yefimok in Russia, but that's another story); the th was pronounced "t" in Germany, so it sounds like "taller" and you can imagine it was a short step from there to "dollar". The Spanish 8 reales coin was "dollar" sized, and circulated widely in the English colonies. In fact it was more common than English coinage. The 8 reales was called the Spanish Dollar. The Mexican peso also historically derives from it, though the peso has been inflated/debased a lot more. And the peso uses the "dollar" sign as well.

Anyhow, Thor, given what you said in a different thread I thought you'd be pleased to hear that historically the dollar is a large silver coin weighing 25-27 grams or so. Pegging it to gold (other than via a government dictated weight ratio of silver to gold--bad idea) was a much later development.

Thanks for posting. I've also heard this argument.

I've been looking for an alternative to the sign of the dollar as a symbol for money, as a symbol of the trader.

Any suggestions?

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I've been looking for an alternative to the sign of the dollar as a symbol for money, as a symbol of the trader.

I've wanted this too, although I like the "$" ok, seeing as how I've used it all my life. Unfortunately, I'm not creative like that, so I have no suggestions.
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I know of an author who uses Ø as a symbol for our current money*; he refuses to use the dollar sign $ when they ain't dollars no more. The difficulty I have is in reading his stuff aloud to someone... what do I say when I see Ø?

*alas I have to maintain that it is "money", it's just not objective money.

Edited by Steve D'Ippolito
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I know of an author who uses Ø as a symbol for our current money*; he refuses to use the dollar sign $ when they ain't dollars no more. The difficulty I have is in reading his stuff aloud to someone... what do I say when I see Ø?

*alas I have to maintain that it is "money", it's just not objective money.

I hear that. How does one go through life explaining all this stuff to people who don't do research and who refuse to think?

It's a lot like when I wave my Civil Flag at home or in my cafe... people get a queer look on their face and ask, "What the hell is that?"

I get tired of explaining.

Sometimes it is best to just leave well enough alone.

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