The dollar is truly global - in its history and its use. That doesn't just mean the American form of money but the term itself. Although the dollar sign does not appear on any current circulating U.S. coins and is rarely encountered on U.S. coins, the American Eagle platinum coins do feature the dollar sign.
Although U.S. paper money is a widely accepted currency around the world, it isn't the only world currency to depict the dollar sign. Collectors can find coins from many countries that express the denomination with the dollar symbol. More than 40 nations use the dollar sign on their coins.
For something different, collectors might want to build a topical collection of world coins featuring the dollar symbol. Topical collecting involves selecting a theme, then building a collection around that theme. The theme can be almost anything, such as world coins depicting the dollar sign.
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IN 1985 the Cayman Islands marked the 250th anniversary of a Royal Land Grant with silver $5 coins with a map on the reverse.
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According to A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, the word dollar "is much older than the American unit of currency."
The word is an "anglicized form of 'thaler,' the name given to coins first minted in 1519 from locally mined silver in Joachimsthal in Bohemia," according to Davies.
Rafael Castillo, in an essay titled "The Dollar Story: Its European Origins," writes that the dollar sign symbol itself had its origins from long ago.
At one time the Straits of Gibraltar were considered the limits to man's exploration of the world. The mythical hero Hercules was said to have erected two pillars on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar marking the boundary of the western world. Because the earth was believed to be flat, venturing further westward out into the ocean "was tantamount to a journey without return," Castillo writes.
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SILVER $5 COIN issued by the Republic of Palau features King Neptune seated left with trident and conch shell, sailing ship at right. The coins are overlaid with enamel.
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Obviously, Christopher Columbus safely sailed well beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. According to Castillo, in recognition of Columbus' achievements, the Spanish crown changed the Latin motto on its coat of arms from non plus ultra, which means "nothing lies further," to plus ultra, "further beyond," and placed the motto on a ribbon twined around the columns. "Thus the two Pillars of Hercules with this revised inscription were embodied into the new Spanish coat of arms," Castillo writes.
The Pillar design was used on Spanish 8-real coins (pieces of eight), struck both in Spain and the Spanish colonies in the New World. The coins eventually found their way to the North American colonies.
The design made it easy for colonists to recognize the Spanish pieces and accept them as money.
In fact it was not uncommon among American colonists to cut these coins up to make change.
When Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S. Treasury secretary, recommended the U.S. monetary system be based on the Spanish standard, the adoption of his proposal may have opened the door for yet another adaptation: the creation of the dollar ($) symbol.
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1978 FIJI silver $10 commemorative coin features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse, and the reverse features a pink-billed parrot finch.
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In his A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day, Glyn Davies writes: "A possible explanation [for the creation of the $ symbol] is that the best known Spanish peso coin had two pillars engraved on the reverse side to symbolize the Pillars of Hercules at Gibraltar and the words plus ultra indicating that beyond the Pillars of Hercules there were other lands. … The two pillars may have become the two strokes in the dollar sign."
Davies also discusses several other theories about the origin of the dollar symbol, several of which involve abbreviations for the denominations of Spanish coinage.
According to Davies: "One version of this theory is that the standard abbreviation of peso was simply 'P,' but the plural form was a large 'P' with a small 's' above it and to its right. This was simplified by retaining only the upward stroke of the 'P' and superimposing the 'S' upon it. Hence the symbol of the dollar."
Davies also offers another theory linking the sign to the Spanish peso or 8-real coins, whose denomination of the peso was expressed as P8 or /8/.
"Eventually it became customary to write the oblique strokes across the figure 8. In the past precious metal coins were sometimes split into pieces to provide small change. The use in America of the expression two bits for 25 cents is a legacy of this since if a Spanish dollar or peso or piece of eight was split into quarters each part would consist of two of the original eight pieces or reales.
"The 8 with two strokes became a letter S with two strokes since S looks like an 8 that has been split, as when a peso was broken to provide change in reales. Eventually a further simplification was introduced by dropping one of the strokes."
Davies also discusses the United States abbreviation theory, which contends that the initials U.S. were superimposed onto one another and the lower part of the U was dropped to create the dollar symbol. This theory is not given as much credence as some of the other theories.
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LORD OF THE RINGS $10 gold coin was struck by the British Royal Mint to mark the release of three motion pictures based on The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Davies also mentions the shilling abbreviation theory. The denomination was abbreviated as "s" in Britain and a stroke through the letter was often an indication of an abbreviation. This stroke through the letter has added significance, according to Davies.
He writes that two different methods of representing the shilling were once used.
"One was simply the letter s and the other was the oblique slash / which is also known as a solidus, the name of the Roman coin from which the shilling is derived. If you make the slash or solidus vertical and combine it with the S you end up with $ - the dollar sign."
Two more theories are offered by Davies: "In the English-speaking world a period is used to separate integral numbers from decimal fractions. The Portuguese used a symbol called the cifrão. As the cifrão was also used to separate numeral expressions of different denominations and it consisted of the letter s with two vertical lines it has been suggested that it gave rise to the dollar symbol."
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GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY of the comic strip Peanuts is celebrated on a silver $10 coin issued by Niue. Snoopy and Woodstock are depicted on the reverse.
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As to the slavery theory Davies writes: "There have been claims that the dollar symbol is derived from the words for slave and nail in Spanish (or in Latin, according to one version of this theory that posits an earlier date for the invention of the symbol).
"The shackles worn by slaves could be locked by a nail which was passed through the rings or loops at the ends of the shackle and bent while it was still hot and malleable. The Spanish for slave is esclavo and for nail is clavo. Therefore the S with a nail, $, or S-clavo equals esclavo or slave. The abbreviation for slaves that slave-owners used in their account books came to represent money," according to Davies.
So take your pick on the theories or just enjoy collecting coins with a familiar symbol.
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WATTLED CRANES are depicted on a 1996 Republic of Eritrea silver $10 commemorative coin as part of its Preserve Planet Earth series.
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What follows is a representative sample of the nations that issue coins featuring the dollar sign. In 1978 Fiji issued a silver $10 commemorative in a series on conservation featuring a depiction of a pink-billed parrot finch on the reverse.
In 1985 the Cayman Islands issued a $5 silver coin marking the 250th anniversary of the Royal Land Grant with a map on the reverse.
In 1993 the Republic of Palau issued copper-nickel $1 and silver $5 coins in a Marine Life Protection series.
On the reverse of the $5 coin is a portrait of King Neptune with trident and conch shell and a sailing ship. The $1 coin depicts a mermaid on the reverse. The coins feature ocean scenes overlaid with enamel.
The Republic of Liberia issued silver $10 coins in 1996 that were part of its Preserve Planet Earth series. The designs feature birds.
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GREY PARROT is depicted on Republic of Liberia silver $10 coins issued in 1996.
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In 1996 the Republic of Eritrea issued two silver commemorative coins as part of its Preserve Planet Earth series. The reverses of the $10 coins feature a Laner falcon on one of the coins and a pair of wattled cranes on the other.
In 1998 a gold $1,000 commemorative coin was issued to honor the Hong Kong International Airport featuring a stylized plane and runway on one side and an orchid on the other.
In 2000 Niue issued silver $10 coins featuring comic strip characters Snoopy and Woodstock on the reverse.
In 2003 the British Royal Mint struck Lord of the Rings $1 silver and gold and $10 gold coins.
The $1 coin depicts a gold-plated ring on a silver coin with elvish script on the reverse. The gold $10 coin features the same design but with no plating.
The coins' reverse design is based on the "One Ring" depicted in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, which derives from The Lord of the Rings, a trilogy of epic fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, set in the mythical world of Middle Earth.
Collectors have a wide range of options when thinking about putting together a collection of world coinage featuring dollar signs.
Collectors can attend coin or paper money shows and look through the inventories of dealers in world coins for pieces depicting this theme.
Also, dealers offering fixed-price lists of world coins are another resource to add pieces to a topical collection.
