Don't know where I heard this but I heard the US dollar sign is supposed to be a U superimposed on an S, and I'm wondering if there's any truth to this. Just sounds a little too "cute," you know?
The origin of the $ sign is supposed to lie in the design of the Pillars of Hercules design on Spanish American colonial silver coins. Aidan.
Just for the heck of it, I checked this out on Wikipedia, and they're all over the place. Aidan, both our explanations are there. But then, Wikipedia is no Oxford Dictionary (i.e., Roy, :thumb.
wiki is only as good as the source. it lacks "science" if any fool can submit an explanation. oh wait, that's the foundations of the innerwebs. -Steve
Wikipedia is a crude starting point to jog research. Beyond that, if you've got a lick of sense, you don't cite to it.
I've always thought the dollar sign was a crude attempt of the San Fransico Mint to cross out thier errors by drawing lines though thier S mark.
Dang - I wish I had saved a CoinWorld article that addressed this subject in great detail. I believe that you are correct, the technical symbol is a U superimposed over an s (easy method is an S with two vertical lines.) An S with one vertical bar running through it - $ - equals ten cents or one dime.
SAY WHAT? Maybe I'm having a senior moment (increasingly common these days), but: I've never heard that before, and I would be a rich old codger if I had a dime for every time I've seen the $ symbol used to mean dollar, not dime. BTW, I put that single line character in this message by simply holding the shift key down while typing the #4 on my computer keyboard!
LOL satootoko! Crazy, I know, but after a bit of research, this site has some information close to what I remember reading in CoinWorld.
The page is similar to another I read. In short, no one really seems to know the exact origin, first use, etc. It would be nice if there was a book that clearly stated, "This is the dollar sign" and phots of the first person to use it, but... no such luck.
So if one line through an S indicates a dime, two lines through an S equals one dollar, then does three lines though an S equal ten dollars? Based on the other post, each line represents 10 and each additional line is 10 times that so three lines equals 10 times that or $10. Again, four lines equals $100, five lines equals $1000, etc. Great idea. Wonder why no one uses the other lines? How come my key board can only make dime signs? As long as we have this explanation, why is a (.) dot used to separate dollars from cents?
Correct - there is no definitive answer. I have always preferred my own theory, and you won't find it in any book or on any web site, except maybe a coin forum where I've posted it. My theory is that the $ came into use as result of the mint mark of Potosi on Spanish colonial coinage. It was the most common and widely used coinage in colonial America - North and South. The 8 reales was called the Spanish dollar in everyday use and the mint mark more closely resembles the dollar sign than anything else out there. See for yourself -
The Spanish Milled Dollar was more accepted than anything anywhere in the Western world at that time. It makes sense the colonists would want to pattern off such a strong coin. And the mint mark is similar. OK, I'm bouncing back and forth like a tennis ball. I accept this explanation, now. Final answer!
