How the Trade Dollar Gave Rise to the Nickname "Chop-Dollar" For 19th Century Victims of Smallpox

JCH22

The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was in October 1977. Prior to then, the disease was a scrouge throughout the world.

Below is an excerpt from a Naval Encyclopedia of 1881 ( with a run on Title), detailing how the term “Chop-Dollar ” came to be used as a nickname for those left scarred by smallpox:

lermish

Thank you for posting this, very interesting! Do you spend all day combing through microfiche for these interesting factoids?

JCH22

x

bakeandshake

trade dollars are so dope!

291fifth

I enjoy reading your posts. They are a welcome break from posts about microscopic "errors" or "varieties".

kaz

thanks for sharing your research. Really interesting.