Who invented the dollar sign? $$$?

Question

Who invented the dollar sign? $$$$$$?

Answer 1

The sign is attested in business correspondence between British North America and Mexico in the 1770s, as referring to the Spanish-Mexican peso.[1] The piastre was known as "Spanish dollar" in British North America, and in 1785, it was adopted as U.S. currency, together with both the term "dollar" and the $ sign. Interestingly, the first instance of the symbol on U.S.A. currency is on the reverse of a $1 coin first issued in February 2007, under the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005.[2]

The sign's ultimate origins are not certain,[3] though it is widely accepted that it comes from the Spanish coat of arms, which carries the two Pillars of Hercules and the motto Plus Ultra in the shape of an "S".

Answer 2

my tightwad boss...

Answer 3

From Thalers to Dollars

The history of the dollar is a story involving many countries in different continents. The word dollar is much older than the American unit of currency. It is an Anglicised form of "thaler", (pronounced taler, with a long "a"), the name given to coins first minted in 1519 from locally mined silver in Joachimsthal in Bohemia. (Today the town of Joachimsthal lies within the borders of the Czech republic and its Czech name is Jáchymov). Thaler is a shortened form of the term by which the coin was originally known - Joachimsthaler.

Later on the English version of the name (dollar) was also applied to similar coins, not only ones minted in central Europe but also the Spanish peso and the Portuguese eight-real piece. Both these large silver coins were practically identical in weight and fineness. Today we are familiar with the phrase pieces of eight from tales of pirates in the Caribbean.

Those coins, particularly the Spanish peso or dollar circulated widely in Britain's North American colonies because of a shortage of official British coins. That is why, after the United States gained its independence the new nation chose "dollar" as the name of its currency instead of keeping the pound.

Later Thalers

Probably the most famous thaler coins were those minted during the reign of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740-80). Maria Theresa thalers were in common use in Aden and some other parts of the Middle East as recently as the 1960s.

The thaler was the unit of currency in Prussia and some of the other German states until the second half of the 19th century. The unification of Germany in 1871 and the adoption of the mark as the common currency put an end to the old units, just as the adoption of the Euro and the introduction of new notes and coins in 2002 put an end to the French franc, the German Deutschemark, Italian lire, Spanish peseta, and other European currencies.

Answer 4

im just reading the very first answer and it seems like it was a stupid move for the americans to switch from the pound to the dollar considering that the british pound is much stronger than the us dollar but i still love america!!! woot woot

Answer 5

One of the most popular theories is that the dollar sign is derived from the initials of the United States. If you superimpose a capital "U" on a capital "S" then drop the lower part of the "U", what you end up with is a version of the dollar symbol with two strokes.

However, a more widely accepted theory nowadays is that the sign owes its origins to the Spanish peso.

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.

Answer 6

IDK, but this is an interesting quesiton and I enjoyed learning something from the given answers.

Answer 7

ME