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<p>[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 4820, member: 112"]This is another example of a Spanish colonial 8 reale. Only this one was struck at Potosi, Bolivia. Potosi was the site of the largest silver strike ever found - an entire mountain of silver. The town was situated at over 9,000 ft. and it required a great deal of effort in those days to get stuff like silver ore back down off the mountain. That's why they founded the mint on the site.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now over the years various researchers have stated that the origin of the US dollar sign - $ - lay in these 8 reale coins. Some have said that it was based on the two pillars & ribbon of the reverse. Perhaps it was. But I rather think it was not. One look at the mint mark ( a P, T and S overlaid each other ) for Potosi, found on the reverse of this coin below at approximately 8 o'clock, is what I believe the source of the dollar sign to be. There were more coins struck at Potosi than all the other mints combined. And they all carried the same mint mark in every denomination. They were therefore the most widely distributed and most commonly seen.</p><p><br /></p><p>The obverse - </p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.users.qwest.net/~pdoug5/1777-PTS%208%20reale%20obv.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse - </p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.users.qwest.net/~pdoug5/1777-PTS%208%20reale%20rev.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 4820, member: 112"]This is another example of a Spanish colonial 8 reale. Only this one was struck at Potosi, Bolivia. Potosi was the site of the largest silver strike ever found - an entire mountain of silver. The town was situated at over 9,000 ft. and it required a great deal of effort in those days to get stuff like silver ore back down off the mountain. That's why they founded the mint on the site. Now over the years various researchers have stated that the origin of the US dollar sign - $ - lay in these 8 reale coins. Some have said that it was based on the two pillars & ribbon of the reverse. Perhaps it was. But I rather think it was not. One look at the mint mark ( a P, T and S overlaid each other ) for Potosi, found on the reverse of this coin below at approximately 8 o'clock, is what I believe the source of the dollar sign to be. There were more coins struck at Potosi than all the other mints combined. And they all carried the same mint mark in every denomination. They were therefore the most widely distributed and most commonly seen. The obverse - [IMG]http://www.users.qwest.net/~pdoug5/1777-PTS%208%20reale%20obv.jpg[/IMG] The reverse - [IMG]http://www.users.qwest.net/~pdoug5/1777-PTS%208%20reale%20rev.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
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