When coin collecting first became a national hobby in the late 1850s, there were two kinds of coins that attracted the most attention: the early copper cents and the silver dollars of 1794-1804. The same line-up, with the addition of the Morgan dollar, is increasingly true today with an ever-expanding collector base.
Although the silver dollar, as we know it, was based directly on the Spanish 8 reales, it is equally true that the dollar has a long history. Shortly after 1515, the Bohemian government, in central Europe, began to issue large silver coins made from metal mined at St. Joachim’s Valley, Joachimsthal in the German language. From the location of the mine came the name of the new coin: “joachimsthaler.” This was soon shortened by practical European merchants to just plain “thaler.” Within a short time, most coins of this size were called thalers, regardless of the actual denomination. From this point, it took only a slight change of the pronunciation in England to produce the word “dollar.”
By 1700, the Spanish dollar (8 reales) had become paramount in world trade and in the English colonies became the standard of value against which all other currencies were measured. It was but a short distance to thinking that the silver 8 reales was an integral part of American commercial affairs despite being struck in the several mints operated by Spain in Latin America. Until recent years, it was believed that the so-called Continental dollars were an abortive
