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DOLLAR

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 390 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DOLLAR , a See also:

silver See also:coin at one See also:time current in many See also:European countries, and adopted under varying forms of the name else-where. The word " dollar " is a modified See also:form of thaler, which, with the variant forms (daler, dalar, daalder, tallero, &c.), is said to be a shortened form of Joachimsthaler. This Joachimsthaler was the name given to a coin intended to be the silver See also:equivalent of the See also:gold gulden, a coin current in See also:Germany from the 14th See also:century. In 1516 a See also:rich silver mine was discovered in Joachimsthal (See also:Joachim's See also:dale), a See also:mining See also:district of Bohemia, and the See also:count of Schlitz, by whom it was appropriated, caused a See also:great number of silver coins to be struck (the first having the date 1518), bearing an effigy of St Joachim, hence the name. The Joachimsthaler was also sometimes known as the Schlickenthaler. The first use of the word dollar in See also:English was as applied to this silver coin, the thaler, which was current in Germany at various values from the 16th century onwards, as well as, more particularly, to the unit of the See also:German monetary See also:union from 1857 to 1873, when the See also:mark was substituted for the thaler. The See also:Spanish piece-of-eight (reals) was also commonly referred to as a dollar. When the See also:Bank of See also:England suspended See also:cash payments in 1797, and the scarcity of coin was very great, a large number of these Spanish coins, which were held by the bank, were put into circulation, after having been countermarked at the See also:Mint with a small See also:oval bust of See also:George III., such as was used by the Gold-smiths' See also:Company for marking See also:plate. Others were simply over-stamped with the See also:initials G.R. enclosed in a See also:shield. In 1804 the Maundy See also:penny See also:head set in an octagonal compartment was employed. Several millions of these coins were issued. These Spanish pieces-of-eight were also current in the Spanish-See also:American colonies, and were very largely used in the See also:British See also:North American colonies.

As the reckoning was by pounds, shillings and pence in the British-American colonies, great inconveniences naturally arose, but these were to some extent lessened by the See also:

adoption of a See also:tariff See also:list, by which the various gold and silver coins circulating Rev. C. E. See also:Osborne.

End of Article: DOLLAR

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DOLLING, ROBERT WILLIAM RADCLYFFE (1851–1902)

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