Ecuadorian centavo coins
Ecuadorian centavo coins were introduced in 2000 when Ecuador converted its currency from the sucre to the U. S. dollar. The coins are in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 centavos and are identical in size and value to their U. S. cent counterparts. They circulate within Ecuador alongside coins and banknotes from the USA. Although U. S. $1 coins are used in the U. S. they are used in Ecuador. Ecuador managed to introduce a $1 coin but decided to not release in common circulation, only in 2000 coin sets. Ecuador does not issue any banknotes, relying on U. S. issues. Ecuadorian centavos bear the numeric value along with the value spelled out in Spanish, the legend of the Banco Central del Ecuador; the exception is the one-cent coin, which rather than bearing a portrait, is printed with a map of the Americas and bears the legend "Ecuador, Luz de América". Coins bear the date Año 20xx, beginning in 2000. With the exception of the one-cent coin, the coins are silver-colored; the coins are minted by the Royal Canadian Mint and the Casa de Moneda de Mexico.|....
"Ecuador, Luz de América". Centavo - article about the use of centavos worldwide Currency of Ecuador
British Indian Ocean Territory
The British Indian Ocean Territory is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, directly south of the Maldives. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands – many small – amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres; the largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia, 27 km2, the site of a joint military facility of the United Kingdom and the United States. The only inhabitants of the territory are US and British military personnel and associated contractors, who collectively number around 2,500; the removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973. The Chagossians numbering about 2,000 people, were expelled by the British government to Mauritius and the Seychelles to allow the United States to build a joint UK/US military base there. Today, the exiled Chagossians are still trying to return, arguing that the forced expulsion and dispossession was illegal.
The islands are off-limits to Chagossians, casual tourists, the media. Since the 1980s the government of Mauritius has sought to regain control over the Chagos Archipelago, separated from the British Colony of Mauritius by the UK in 1965 to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. On 23 June 2017, the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of referring the territorial dispute between Mauritius and the UK to the International Court of Justice in order to clarify the legal status of the Chagos Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean; the motion was approved by a majority vote with 94 voting for and 15 against.. Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf described the UK's administration of the Chagos Islands as "an unlawful act of continuing character". In February 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Britain should transfer the islands to Mauritius as they were not separated from the latter in 1965; the ruling is not binding. Maldivian mariners knew the Chagos Islands well.
In Maldivian lore, they are known as Hollhavai. According to Southern Maldivian oral tradition and fishermen were lost at sea and got stranded on one of the islands of the Chagos, they were rescued and brought back home. However, these islands were judged to be too far away from the seat of the Maldivian crown to be settled permanently by them. Thus, for many centuries the Chagos were ignored by their northern neighbours; the islands of Chagos Archipelago were charted by Vasco da Gama in the early sixteenth century claimed in the eighteenth century by France as a possession of Mauritius. They were first settled in the 18th century by African slaves and Indian contractors brought by Franco-Mauritians to found coconut plantations. In 1810, Mauritius was captured by the United Kingdom, France ceded the territory in the Treaty of Paris. In 1965, the United Kingdom split the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius and the islands of Aldabra and Desroches from the Seychelles to form the British Indian Ocean Territory.
The purpose was to allow the construction of military facilities for the mutual benefit of the United Kingdom and the United States. The islands were formally established as an overseas territory of the United Kingdom on 8 November 1965. On 23 June 1976, Aldabra and Desroches were returned to Seychelles as a result of its attaining independence. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. In 1990, the first BIOT flag was unfurled; this flag, which contains the Union Jack, has depictions of the Indian Ocean, where the islands are located, in the form of white and blue wavy lines and a palm tree rising above the British crown. In 1966, the British government purchased the owned copra plantations and closed them. Over the next five years, the British authorities forcibly and clandestinely removed the entire population of about 2,000 people, known as Chagossians, from Diego Garcia and two other Chagos atolls, Peros Banhos and Salomon Islands, to Mauritius.
In 1971, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a treaty, leasing the island of Diego Garcia to the US military for the purposes of building a large air and naval base on the island. The deal was important to the UK government, as the United States granted it a substantial discount on the purchase of Polaris nuclear missiles in return for the use of the islands as a base; the strategic location of the island was significant at the centre of the Indian Ocean, to counter any Soviet threat in the region. Work on the military base commenced in 1971, with a large airbase with several long range runways constructed, as well as a harbour suitable for large naval vessels. Although classed as a joint UK/US base, in practice it is staffed by the US military, although the British maintain a garrison at all times, Royal Air Force long range patrol aircraft are deployed there; the United States Air Force used the base during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2001 war in Afghanistan, as well as the 2003 Iraq War.
During the 1980s, Mauritius asserted a claim to sovereignty for the territory, citing the 1965 separation as illegal under international law, despite their apparent agreement at the time. The UK does not recognise Mauritius's claim, but has agreed to cede the territory to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes; the Seychelles made a sovereignty claim on the islands. The islanders, who now reside in Mauritius and the Seychelles, have continually asserted their right to return to Diego Garcia, winning important legal victories in the English High Court
Kazakhstani tenge
The tenge is the currency of Kazakhstan. It is divided into 100 tıyn; the ISO-4217 code is KZT. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, attempts were made by most republics to maintain a common currency; some politicians were hoping to at least maintain "special relations" among former Soviet republics, or the "near abroad". Other reasons were the economic considerations for maintaining the ruble zone; the wish to preserve strong trade relations between former Soviet republics was considered the most important goal. The break-up of the Soviet Union was not accompanied by any formal changes in monetary arrangements; the Central Bank of Russia was authorized to take over the State Bank of the USSR on 1 January 1992. It continued to ship USSR ruble notes and coins to the central banks of the eleven newly independent countries, the main branches of Gosbank in the republics; the political situation, was not favorable for maintaining a common currency. Maintaining a common currency requires a strong political consensus in respect to monetary and fiscal targets, a common institution in charge of implementing these targets, some minimum of common legislation.
These conditions were far from being met amidst the turbulent political situation. During the first half of 1992, a monetary union with 15 independent states all using the ruble existed. Since it was clear that the situation would not last, each of them was using its position as "free-riders" to issue huge amounts of money in the form of credit; as a result, some countries were issuing coupons in order to "protect" their markets from buyers from other states. The Russian central bank responded in July 1992 by setting up restrictions to the flow of credit between Russia and other states; the final collapse of the ruble zone began when Russia pulled out with the exchange of banknotes by the Central bank of Russia on Russian territory at the end of July 1993. As a result and other countries still in the ruble zone were "pushed out". On November 12, 1993, a decree of the President of Kazakhstan, "About introducing national currency of Republic of Kazakhstan", was issued; the tenge was introduced on 15 November 1993 to replace the Soviet ruble at a rate of 1 tenge = 500 rubles.
In 1991 a "special group" of designers was created: Mendybay Alin, Timur Suleymenov, Asimsaly Duzelkhanov and Khayrulla Gabzhalilov. As such, November 15 is celebrated as the "Day of National Currency of Republic of Kazakhstan". In 1995, a tenge printing factory was opened in Kazakhstan; the first consignment of tenge was printed abroad, in the UK. The first coins were minted in Germany. In February 2019, the President of Kazakhstan signed a bill into law that will remove all Russian captions from future tenge banknotes, as it is not a state language; the word tenge in the Kazakh and most other Turkic languages means a set of scales. The origin of the word is the Turkic teŋ -, balance; the name of this currency is thus similar to the taka, lira and peso. The name of the currency is related to the Russian word for money Russian: деньги/ den'gi, borrowed from Turkic. In autumn 2006, the National Bank of Kazakhstan organized a competition for the symbol of the Kazakhstan Tenge and received over 30,000 applications.
On March 20, 2007, two days before the Nauryz holiday, the National Bank of Kazakhstan approved a graphical symbol for the Tenge: ₸. On March 29, 2007, the Bank announced two designers from Almaty, Vadim Davydenko and Sanzhar Amirkhanov, as winners for the creation of the symbol of the Kazakhstan Tenge, they shared the title of "parents" of the Kazakhstan Tenge symbol. The character was proposed for encoding in Unicode in 2008, was included in Unicode 5.2.0 at code point U+20B8. While older coins were struck in Germany, current coins are struck domestically, by the Kazakhstan Mint in Oskemen. In 1993, the first series of coins were introduced in denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 tiyin featuring the national arms and were struck in bronze. 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 tenge were depicted stylized and mythical animals. The coins of this period circulated alongside tiyin and low denomination tenge notes of equal value. In 1998, a new series of coins was introduced, which excluded the tiyin having 1 tenge being the smallest denomination.
100 tenge were introduced in 2002 replacing the equivalent notes. An irregular 2 tenge coin was introduced in 2005. In 2013 the alloy of lower denomination coins was altered. Coins in circulation are: Commemorative coins are issued in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000 tenge. Silver and gold bullion coins exist in denominations of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 tenge. Many of the 20 and 50 tenge commemoratives are struck in cupro-nickel and make it out into general circulation as a side coinage with face value. On 15 November 1993, the National Bank of Kazakhstan issued notes in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 tiyn, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 tenge; these were followed in 1994 by 200, 500, 1,000 tenge notes. 2,000 tenge notes were introduced in 1996, with 5,000 tenge in 1999 and 10,000 tenge on 28 July 2003. Notes in circulation are: 200 tenge portrait of Al-Farabi 500 tenge portrait of Al-Farabi, fragment of Khodzha Akhmet Yassaui mausoleum 1,000 tenge portrait of Al-Farabi 2,000 tenge portrait of Al-Farabi 5,000 tenge portrait of
Tajikistani samani
The Samani is the currency of Tajikistan. It is subdivided into 100 diram; the currency is named after the father of Ismail Samani. The somoni was introduced on 30 October 2000; the currency is divided into 100 diram for one somoni. Diram banknotes were first introduced on 30 October 2000 to start the currency off and coins were introduced in 2001 with the intention of creating a more efficient monetary system and replacing the diram notes; this was the first time circulating coins were introduced in Tajikistan. Circulation coins, first issued in 2001 were struck in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 diram composed of brass-clad steel and 1, 3, 5 somoni in nickel-clad steel. Bimetallic 3 and 5 somoni coins were first released in 2003; the reverse of all somoni coins are commemorate various events. A second issue dated 2011 was issued in June 2012, included 5, 10, 20, 50 dirams and 1 somoni. A third series of somoni coins was issued in 2018 in denominations of 3 and 5 somoni. Tajikistan coins are struck by Goznak at the Saint Petersburg Mint in Russia.
"ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон" = "Republic of Tajikistan" Standard Catalog of World Coins: 1901–present, 31st ed. states that the composition for 1, 3, 5 som is cupronickel-zinc, while the Central Bank states cupronickel. "Рӯдакӣ" = "Rudaki" "ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон" = "Republic of Tajikistan" Banknotes of 1, 5, 20, 50 dirams, 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 somoni were printed in 1999 and issued in 2000. Along with a 3 somoni note in 2010, inflationary pressure since the introduction of the somoni has resulted in the printing of 200 and 500 somoni notes that year; the 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 somoni notes were reissued in 2013, bearing the year 1999. Note: These rates could be different from the rates the central bank publishes Economy of Tajikistan Notes Sources Coins of Tajikistan at CISCoins.net
Macanese pataca
The Macau pataca or Macanese pataca is the currency of Macau. It is subdivided with 10 avos called ho in Cantonese; the abbreviation MOP$ is used. Macau has a currency board system under which the legal tender, Macau pataca, is 100 percent backed by foreign exchange reserves, in this case the Hong Kong dollar. Moreover, the currency board, Monetary Authority of Macau, has a statutory obligation to issue and redeem Macau pataca on demand against the Hong Kong dollar at a fixed exchange rate of HK$1 = MOP$1.03, without limit. The pataca was introduced in Portuguese Macau and Portuguese Timor in the year 1894, but only as a unit of account; the unit corresponded to the Mexican Peso, it replaced the Portuguese real at a rate of 1 pataca = 450 reais. The name pataca derives from the fact that the Portuguese always referred to the Mexican Peso as the pataca mexicana. At the end of the nineteenth century, there was no single currency in use in Macau, but the predominant circulating coins were the silver Mexican dollars, the British silver trade dollars of Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements, as well as the silver dollars and fractional coinage of the neighbouring province of Canton.
In 1901, it was decided to have a uniquely Macau currency, for that purpose, the Banco Nacional Ultramarino was granted exclusive rights to issue legal tender banknotes that were to be denominated in patacas. On January 27, 1906, pataca notes in denominations of 1, 5, 50 and 100 were introduced and all foreign coinage was outlawed, the idea being to make the pataca paper notes the sole legal tender currency in Macau. However, the Chinese, being so accustomed to using silver for barter, were suspicious of this new paper money, as such, the paper pataca always circulated at a discount in relation to the silver dollar coins. On the contrary, a similar action at the same time in the Straits Settlements, for the same purpose, had the different effect of putting the new Straits dollar into the gold exchange standard. Hence both the Macau pataca and the Straits dollar were launched at a sterling value of 2 shillings and 4 pence, but where the Straits dollar remained at that value until the 1960s, the Macau pataca fluctuated with the value of silver, just like the Hong Kong unit.
In 1935, when Hong Kong and China abandoned the silver standard, the Hong Kong unit was pegged to sterling at a rate of 1 shilling and 3 pence, while the Macau pataca was pegged to the Portuguese escudo at a rate of 5.5 escudos. This meant that the Macau pataca was worth only 1 shilling sterling and was therefore at a discount of 3 pence sterling in relation to the Hong Kong unit; the first Macau coinage was not introduced until the year 1952, which happened to be the year after the last pataca fractional coins were minted for East Timor. In that year in Macau, denominations below 10 patacas were replaced by coins. In 1980, the Macau government set up the Issuing Institute of Macau, given the monopoly right to issue pataca notes; the BNU continued to issue banknotes. On agreement with the BNU on October 16, 1995, the Macau branch of Bank of China became the second note-issuing bank; the authority to issue patacas was transferred to the Monetary Authority of Macau. Coins were not issued for use in Macau until 1952, with the 20 cent coin of Canton Province circulating.
In 1952, bronze 5 and 10 avos, cupro-nickel 50 avos and.720 fineness silver 1 and 5 patacas were introduced. Nickel-brass replaced bronze including the last issue of 5 avos. Nickel replaced silver in the 1 pataca in 1968. In 1971, a final silver issue of 5 patacas was produced. Brass 10, 20 and 50 avos and cupro-nickel 1 and 5 patacas were introduced in 1982; the 20 avos and 5 patacas became dodecagonal in 1993 and 1992 whilst a bimetallic 10 patacas was introduced in 1997 and a cupronickel 2 patacas in 1998. Coins are issued by the Monetary Authority of Macau. In a similar arrangement to the issue of banknotes in Hong Kong, Macau's banknotes are not issued by a central bank or monetary authority but by two commercial banks, the Banco Nacional Ultramarino and the Bank of China. Owing to Macau's Portuguese colonial past, banknotes are printed in Portuguese as well as Chinese, including the name of the Bank of China, written as both "Banco da China" and "中國銀行". Following the initial issues of pataca banknotes in 1906, the new currency was supplemented the following year by 10 and 25 pataca notes, in February 1920, 5, 10 and 50 avo notes were added.
In 1923, the Banco Vui Hang introduced 10 pataca notes which stated that they were backed by Cantonese 20 cent coins. These notes were followed until 1934 by cashier's cheques issued by various banks in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1000 dollars equivalent to the pataca; the BNU issues were augmented by 1 and 20 avo notes in 1942, in 1944, 500 pataca notes were introduced. In 1944, further cashier's cheques were issued, denominated 1000 yuan and NC$5000; the 25 pataca note was discontinued after 1958. On August 8, 1988, BNU issued a 1000 pataca banknote, the highest value banknote yet; because 8 in Chinese is similar to "getting rich", this unique date, which occurs only once per century, gives the note a special meaning. Another feature is the replacement of the Coat of arms of Portugal with BNU's logo, shedding a political symbol in the prospect of reunification with China. In 1995, the Banco da China introduced notes in denominations of 50, 100, 500 and 1000 patacas.
Both the BNU and Banco da China introduced 20 pataca notes in 1996. Bankn
South Korean won
The won or the Korean Won is the currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into the monetary subunit; the jeon is no longer used for everyday transactions, appears only in foreign exchange rates. The won is issued based in the capital city of Seoul; the old "won" was a cognate of Japanese yen. It is derived from the hanja 圓, meaning "currency" or "coin." The won was subdivided into 100 jeon, itself a cognate of the Chinese character 錢 which means "money" and used as a unit of money in ancient times. The current won is written in hangul only and does not have any hanja associated with it. Prior to 1910, the won was the currency. During the colonial era under the Japanese, the won was replaced by the Korean yen, at par with the Japanese Yen. After World War II ended in 1945, Korea was divided, resulting in two separate currencies, both called won, for the South and the North. Both the Southern won and the Northern won replaced the yen at par; the first South Korean won was subdivided into 100 jeon.
The South Korean won had a fixed exchange rate to the U. S. dollar at a rate of 15 won to 1 dollar. A series of devaluations followed, the ones, in part, due to the Korean War; the pegs were: The first South Korean won was replaced by the hwan on February 15, 1953 at a rate of 1 hwan = 100 won. Republic of Korea Banknotes 5th Edition In 1946, the Bank of Joseon introduced 10- and 100-won notes; these were followed in 1949 by 5- and 1,000-won notes. A new central bank, the Bank of Korea, was established on 12 June 1950, assumed the duties of Bank of Joseon. Notes were introduced in denominations of 5, 10 and 50 jeon, 100 and 1,000 won; the 500-won notes were introduced in 1952. In 1953, a series of banknotes was issued which, although it gave the denominations in English in won, were, in fact, the first issues of the hwan; the won was reintroduced on June 1962, at a rate of 1 won = 10 hwan. It became the sole legal tender on March 22, 1975, with the withdrawal of the last circulating hwan coins, its ISO 4217 code is KRW.
At the reintroduction of the won in 1962, its value was pegged at 125 won = US$1. The following pegs operated between 1962 and 1980: On February 27, 1980, efforts were initiated to lead to a floating exchange rate; the won was allowed to float on December 24, 1997, when an agreement was signed with the International Monetary Fund. Shortly after, the won was devalued to half of its value, as part of the East Asian financial crisis; until 1966, 10- and 50-hwan coins, revalued as 1 and 5 won, were the only coins in circulation. New coins, denominated in won, were introduced by the Bank of Korea on August 16, 1966, in denominations of 1, 5 and 10 won, with the 1 won struck in brass and the 5 and 10 won in bronze; these were the first South Korean coins to display the date in the common era, earlier coins having used the Korean calendar. The 10- and 50-hwan coins were demonetized on March 22, 1975. In 1968, as the intrinsic value of the brass 1-won coin far surpassed its face value, new aluminium 1-won coins were issued to replace them.
As an attempt to further reduce currency production costs, new 5- and 10-won coins were issued in 1970, struck in brass. Cupronickel 100-won coins were introduced that year, followed by cupronickel 50 won in 1972. In 1982, with inflation and the increasing popularity of vending machines, 500-won coins were introduced on June 12, 1982. In January 1983, with the purpose of standardizing the coinage, a new series of 1-, 5-, 10-, 50-, 100-won coins was issued, using the same layout as the 500-won coins, but conserving the coins' old themes; the Bank of Korea announced in early 2006 its intention to redesign the 10-won coin by the end of that year. With the increasing cost of production at 38 won per 10-won coin, rumors that some people had been melting the coins to make jewelry, the redesign was needed to make the coin more cost-effective to produce; the new coin is made of copper-coated aluminium with a reduced diameter of 18 mm, a weight of 1.22 g. Its visual design is the same as the old coin.
The new coin was issued on December 18, 2006. The 1- and 5-won coins are difficult to find in circulation today, prices of consumer goods are rounded to the nearest 10 won. However, they are still in production, minting limited amounts of these two coins every year, for the Bank of Korea's annual mint sets. In 1998, the production costs per coin were: 10-won coins each cost 35 won to produce, 100-won coins cost 58 won, 500 won coins cost 77 won; the Bank of Korea designates coin series in a unique way. Instead of putting those of similar design and issue dates in the same series, it assigns series number X to the Xth design of a given denomination; the series numbers are expressed with Korean letters used in alphabetical order, e.g. 가, 나, 다, 라, 마, 바, 사. Therefore, ₩1,000 issued in 1983 is series II because it is the second design of all ₩1,000 designs since the introduction of the South Korean won in 1962. In 1962, 10- and 50-jeon, 1-, 5-, 10-, 50-, 100- and 500-won notes were introduced by the Bank of Korea.
The first issue of 1-, 5-, 10-, 50-, 100- and 500-won notes was printed in the UK by Thomas De La Rue. The jeon notes together with a second issue of 10- and 100-won notes were printed domestically by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation. In 1965, 100-won notes were printed using intaglio printing techniques, for the first time on domestically printed notes, to reduce counterfeiting. Replacements for the British 500-won notes followed in 1966 using intaglio printing, for the 50
Dollar
Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies, including those of Australia, Hong Kong, Liberia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. The U. S. dollar is the official currency of the Caribbean Netherlands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Zimbabwe. One dollar is divided into 100 cents. On 15 January 1520, the Kingdom of Bohemia began minting coins from silver mined locally in Joachimsthal and marked on reverse with the Bohemian lion; the coins were called joachimsthaler, which became shortened in common usage to taler. The German name "Joachimsthal" means "Joachim's valley" or "Joachim's dale"; this name found its way into other languages: Czech and Slovenian tolar, Hungarian tallér, Danish and Norwegian daler, Swedish daler, Icelandic dalur, Dutch daalder or daler, Ethiopian ታላሪ, Italian tallero, Greek τάλληρον, τάλιρο, tàlleron, tàliro, Polish talar, Persian dare, as well as – via Dutch – into English as dollar. A Dutch coin depicting a lion was called the leeuwendaler or leeuwendaalder, literally'lion daler'.
The Dutch Republic produced these coins to accommodate its booming international trade. The leeuwendaler circulated throughout the Middle East and was imitated in several German and Italian cities; this coin was popular in the Dutch East Indies and in the Dutch New Netherland Colony. It was in circulation throughout the Thirteen Colonies during the 17th and early 18th centuries and was popularly known as "lion dollar"; the currencies of Romania and Bulgaria are, to this day,'lion'. The modern American-English pronunciation of dollar is still remarkably close to the 17th century Dutch pronunciation of daler; some well-worn examples circulating in the Colonies were known as "dog dollars". Spanish pesos – having the same weight and shape – came to be known as Spanish dollars. By the mid-18th century, the lion dollar had been replaced by Spanish dollar, the famous "pieces of eight", which were distributed in the Spanish colonies in the New World and in the Philippines; the sign is first attested in business correspondence in the 1770s as a scribal abbreviation "ps", referring to the Spanish American peso, that is, the "Spanish dollar" as it was known in British North America.
These late 18th- and early 19th-century manuscripts show that the s came to be written over the p developing a close equivalent to the "$" mark, this new symbol was retained to refer to the American dollar as well, once this currency was adopted in 1785 by the United States. By the time of the American Revolution, Spanish dollars gained significance because they backed paper money authorized by the individual colonies and the Continental Congress. Common in the Thirteen Colonies, Spanish dollars were legal tender in one colony, Virginia. On April 2, 1792, U. S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton reported to Congress the precise amount of silver found in Spanish dollar coins in common use in the states; as a result, the United States dollar was defined as a unit of pure silver weighing 371 4/16th grains, or 416 grains of standard silver. It was specified that the "money of account" of the United States should be expressed in those same "dollars" or parts thereof. Additionally, all lesser-denomination coins were defined as percentages of the dollar coin, such that a half-dollar was to contain half as much silver as a dollar, quarter-dollars would contain one-fourth as much, so on.
In an act passed in January 1837, the dollar's alloy was set at 15%. Subsequent coins would contain the same amount of pure silver as but were reduced in overall weight. On February 21, 1853, the quantity of silver in the lesser coins was reduced, with the effect that their denominations no longer represented their silver content relative to dollar coins. Various acts have subsequently been passed affecting the amount and type of metal in U. S. coins, so that today there is no legal definition of the term "dollar" to be found in U. S. statute. The closest thing to a definition is found in United States Code Title 31, Section 5116, paragraph b, subsection 2: "The Secretary shall sell silver under conditions the Secretary considers appropriate for at least $1.292929292 a fine troy ounce." However, the dollar's constitutional meaning has remained unchanged through the years. Silver was removed from U. S. coinage by 1965 and the dollar became a free-floating fiat currency without a commodity backing defined in terms of real gold or silver.
The US Mint continues to make silver $1-denomination coins, but these are not intended for general circulation. The quantity of silver chosen in 1792 to correspond to one dollar, namely, 371.25 grains of pure silver, is close to the geometric mean of one troy pound and one pennyweight. In what follows, "dollar" will be used as a unit of mass. A troy pound being 5760 grains and a pennyweight being 240 times smaller, or 24 grains, the geometric mean is, to the nearest hundredth, 371.81 grains. This means that the ratio of a pound to a dollar equals the ratio of a dollar to a pennyweight; these ratios are very close to the ratio of a gram to a grain: 15.43. In the United States, the ratio of the value of gold to the value of silver in the period from 1792 to 1873 averaged to about 15.5, being 15 from 1792 to 1834 and around 16 from 1834 to 1873. This is nearly the value of the gold to silver ratio determined by Isaac Newton in 17
East Timor (alongside the U.S. dollar)
Media related to Coins of East Timor at Wikimedia Commons
