Dollar

an old German coin first minted from Bohemian silver in 1519 at Joachimsthal. The Joachimsthaler or thaler, for short, whence dollar, was for a time the European standard of weight and purity. The name was adopted by Spain and its colonies. Through trade with the West Indies, American merchants were more familiar with the Spanish dollar than with the English pound. Accordingly, when the American congress in 1792 established a system of coinage for the United States, the basis was made a dollar "of the value of a Spanish milled dollar, the same as is now current." The first actual American silver dollar, 1794, weighed 416 grains, and contained 371.25 grains of silver. The gold dollar contained 24.75 grains of fine gold at first, which was reduced in 1834 to 23.20 grains, and again raised in 1837 to 23.22 grains at which it now remains. The silver dollar has gone through several changes of weight. It now weighs 412.5 grains, 371.25 grains of which are silver. Since March 14, 1900, the gold dollar has been the standard of value in the United States. An English pound is worth $4.86 in gold; the silver bullion in a silver dollar is worth about 45 cents in gold. The dollar is the unit of coinage in the United States, British North America, Newfoundland, Liberia, and Mexico. See Coin; Mint