The
silver dollars were authorized by Congress on April
2, 1792. Weight and fineness were specified at 416 grains
and .8924 fine. The first issues appeared in 1794, and
until 1804 all silver dollars had the value stamped
on the edge: HUNDRED CENTS, ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT. After
a lapse in coinage of the silver dollar during the period
1804 through 1835, coins were made with either plain
or reeded edges and the value was placed on the reverse.
The weight was changed by the law of January 18, 1837,
to 412-1/2 grains, .900 fineness. The coinage was discontinued
by the Act of February 12, 1873, and reauthorized by
the Act of February 28, 1878. The dollar was again discontinued
after 1935, and since then only base-metal pieces have
been coined for circulation.
ORIGIN
OF THE DOLLAR: The word dollar evolves from
the German thaler, the name given to the first large-sized
European silver coin. Designed as a substitute for the
gold florin, the coin originated in the Tyrol in 1484.
So popular did these large silver coins become during
the 16th century that many other countries struck similar
pieces, giving them names derived from thaler. In the
Netherlands the coin was called rijksdaalder, in Denmark
rigsdaler, in Italy tallero, in Poland talar, in France
jocandale, in Russia jefimoh. All these names are abbreviations
of joachimsthaler. Until the discovery of the great
silver deposits in Mexican and South American mines,
the mint with the greatest output of large silver coins
was that of Joachimsthal in the Bohemian Erzgebirge.
The Spanish dollar, or piece of eight, was widely used
and familiar to everyone in the British American colonies.
It was only natural, therefore, that the word dollar
was adopted officially as the standard monetary unit
of the United States by Congress on July 6, 1785.
