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Where does the dollar sign $$$$$ come from?

YQQYQQ Posts: 3,314 ✭✭✭✭✭

does anyone know?
Can someone explain?

Today is the first day of the rest of my life

Comments

  • OGDanOGDan Posts: 3,748 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Look at the obv of a Spanish/Mexican pillar 8 Reales

  • BillDugan1959BillDugan1959 Posts: 3,821 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Indeed, the ribbon wrapped around the two 'Pillars of Hercules' on the Spanish "Pillar" Dollar.

  • BillDugan1959BillDugan1959 Posts: 3,821 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Sadly, not my coin! Ripped for Illustrative purposes only.

  • 1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 13,784 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb

    Bad transactions with : nobody to date

  • 1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 13,784 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb

    Bad transactions with : nobody to date

  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,772 ✭✭✭✭✭

    From a combo of the U and S in US

    bob :)

    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wall Street. :)

  • Insider2Insider2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 4, 2018 7:35PM

    @BillDugan1959 said: "Indeed, the ribbon wrapped around the two 'Pillars of Hercules' on the Spanish "Pillar" Dollar."

    Mr. Bill, That's what I once thought also but we both are incorrect. :( That myth probably started over fifty years ago when the Redbook illustrated a Spanish 8R and said something to the effect that it was our first dollar.

  • crazyhounddogcrazyhounddog Posts: 13,976 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 4, 2018 7:50PM


    From the pillar as already mentioned.

    The bitterness of "Poor Quality" is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
  • Insider2Insider2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @crazyhounddog said: "From the pillar as already mentioned."

    I guess we are lucky they didn't choose the left pillar for the "sign." :wink:

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,192 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Insider2 said:
    @BillDugan1959 said: "Indeed, the ribbon wrapped around the two 'Pillars of Hercules' on the Spanish "Pillar" Dollar."

    Mr. Bill, That's what I once thought also but we both are incorrect. :( That myth probably started over fifty years ago when the Redbook illustrated a Spanish 8R and said something to the effect that it was our first dollar.

    Actually, no one knows for sure where the dollar sign comes from. Every theory is nothing more than an educated guess.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting !!! :)

    Timbuk3
  • TreashuntTreashunt Posts: 6,747 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The US mint, check your change

    Frank

    BHNC #203

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,192 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Treashunt said:
    The US mint, check your change

    Other than platinum bullion coins I'm unaware of any circulating US coins with a dollar sign. It does appear on old US paper money though.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • AzurescensAzurescens Posts: 2,761 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I searched for "ancient symbols on money" and now I'm even more confused.

    :s

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I cannot ever recall losing sleep over this question. As a matter of fact, doing some serious introspection over the last two minutes, I really do not care.... :D:D So I will go on my merry way and enjoy another nice day. Cheers, RickO

  • BillDugan1959BillDugan1959 Posts: 3,821 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @PerryHall said:

    @Treashunt said:
    The US mint, check your change

    Other than platinum bullion coins I'm unaware of any circulating US coins with a dollar sign. It does appear on old US paper money though.

    The reverses of both the Sackies/Native Americans since 2009 and the Presidential dollars use "$1" instead of spelling out the denomination in words. You may argue whether or not these are circulating, but they are marginally spendable here in flyover America.

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,192 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @BillDugan1959 said:

    @PerryHall said:

    @Treashunt said:
    The US mint, check your change

    Other than platinum bullion coins I'm unaware of any circulating US coins with a dollar sign. It does appear on old US paper money though.

    The reverses of both the Sackies/Native Americans since 2009 and the Presidential dollars use "$1" instead of spelling out the denomination in words. You may argue whether or not these are circulating, but they are marginally spendable here in flyover America.

    Thanks. I forgot about those. :)

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • JBKJBK Posts: 15,651 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @BillDugan1959 said:

    @PerryHall said:

    @Treashunt said:
    The US mint, check your change

    Other than platinum bullion coins I'm unaware of any circulating US coins with a dollar sign. It does appear on old US paper money though.

    The reverses of both the Sackies/Native Americans since 2009 and the Presidential dollars use "$1" instead of spelling out the denomination in words. You may argue whether or not these are circulating, but they are marginally spendable here in flyover America.

    I spend them on occassion....

  • ParadisefoundParadisefound Posts: 8,588 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting study...thank you for sharing. :)

  • KkathylKkathyl Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 7, 2018 8:02AM

    As the American colonies evolved, trade between Spanish Americans and English Americans became common. Merchants recording trade transactions wanted to make their lives easier by using an abbreviation for “pesos” rather than writing out the whole word. So they chose a P with a superscript S (ps), which became a P and an S overlapping, which became an S with only the stem of the P. Yup, you guessed it—an S with a line through it

    These symbols first appeared in record documents around 1770. So this symbol was around before the United States was even called the United States, a clear nail in the coffin for the “U.S.” theory. However, though the symbol comes from a Spanish coin, it was created by Americans. The English American colonists were the first to use the symbol. Since it was (in a way) already a dollar sign (for the “Spanish dollar”), and since one American dollar originally had the same value as one peso, it would eventually become the sign for the American dollar

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  • ColonialcoinColonialcoin Posts: 659 ✭✭✭✭

    The PS you see on Latin American coinage stands for Potosi, Bolivia which began striking their milled coinage in 1767. If you look closely it is actually an intermingling of PTS.

  • ElmhurstElmhurst Posts: 784 ✭✭✭

    I heard somewhere it means Insurance Script...I forget the rest of the story

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