Currency

[solbjerg]

Hi

8356 ₤ Lira (from the Roman L – libra = weight) with two horizontal lines

0163 £ Pound (currency) originally around ⅓ kg of silver (Alt+8531= ⅓)

035 # Pound (weight) also - perhaps mostly used as a sign for number

036 $ Dollar (Perhaps from the "piece of eight") or (sestersius ||S Roman coin)

Escudo a dollar sign with two vertical lines – more in keeping with sestersius – but often written $ because the most used fonts only use 1 vertical line.

Often used as a division between escudos and centavos → 15$25 = $15,25 (escudo)

 

$ sporting 2 vertical lines $ (Alt+36 for both types)

Fonts with 2 lines in the dollar sign:

Bodoni

Bradley Hand

Brush Script

Cardo

Chiller

Code 2001

Engravers MT

Eucrosial

Forte

Garamond

Gigi

Harrington

Inkpen2 (Chords)

Jasmine

Jokerman

Kunstler Script

Magneto

Modern No 20

Palace Script

Rage Italic

Traditional Arabic

 

Cheers

solbjerg

[Melvin_Deal]

Hi Holger!

 

You seem to have studied this.

 

So in the Roman Lira what substance (metal) were they measuring... was it also gold? And was it by the pound? Do you think the English Pound was left over from the brief (historically speaking) occupation and control of the southern half of "the big Island" by the Roman empire? The notation of the pound sign # more resembles the Roman symbol than the British... maybe??

 

As far as US coinage denominations... according to my grandfather born in 1902:

 

I know that the U.S.: 1 dollar pieces were issued in gold and silver. As far as street and common trading were concerned... You could cut your dollar coin into four pieces... then you would have a 4 US quarters ( each 25 percent of a dollar... easy to do as the coin was large)

Cutting them in half (1/2) again... is difficult to do accurately, using axes and hatchets or whatever else you have around! (Now they are small pieces of a coin!)

Each time the cut was always heavier on one side or the other... you could never cut a clean 12.5 (cents) percent of a quarter dollar. One cut would be 15 percent (cent) the other 10 percent (cent). The parties cutting the coin would have to agree on which cut side was the heaviest!

They could be so close or far apart on opinion concerning the cutting and subsequently in a trade... that the one percent (cent) made of copper and the five percent (cent) made of nickel were needed to make "fair trades"

 

The dime came about to stop people from cutting up quarter dollar coins when released... so they would use the (5%) nickels and (1%) copper cents instead. No need to chop up your dollar coins anymore!!!!

 

<Hard to cut precise with a mallet and chisel (on the best of days)>

 

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!

[wozofoz]

Show me the money

 

Like many people I always assumed the dollar sign had originated from the letters US (United States) until I took a bit of interest in it and actually looked it up :roll:

 

There are a few Alternative hypotheses on the Dollar sign @ Wikipedia page, Slash 8 and Unit of silver are interesting and sound reasonable but of all the alternatives I think Greek mythology is the most fun

Another theory is that the dollar sign may have also originated from Hermes, the Greek god of bankers, th1eves, messengers, and tricksters: Besides the crane, one of his symbols was the caduceus, a staff from which ribbons or snakes dangled in a sinuous curve.

 

All the best, woz of oz

[solbjerg]

Hi Melvin

Nice story!

I have studied it a bit from the standpoint of characters, there is a wealth of information I do not know.

I do not think there is any doubt that the £ sign came from the Latin L for libra though. Weight did play a large role in in value setting of coinage or payment in those days. And to differentiate between the use of the letter L and the currency it was normal to use a horizontal stroke to denote this. In some instances the stroke would be double and could also be vertical or diagonal - just not with the £ :-)

The weight of a third of a Kg of silver did make me wonder if they originally had used some other metal to measure against.

On the other hand it may possibly also be because the pound was different then?? Measurements are a jungle!

Cheers

solbjerg

p.s. Peso also means weight originally

p.p.s. My father was born in 1903

 

 

You seem to have studied this.

 

So in the Roman Lira what substance (metal) were they measuring... was it also gold? And was it by the pound? Do you think the English Pound was left over from the brief (historically speaking) occupation and control of the southern half of "the big Island" by the Roman empire? The notation of the pound sign # more resembles the Roman symbol than the British... maybe??

 

As far as US coinage denominations... according to my grandfather born in 1902:

 

I know that the U.S.: 1 dollar pieces were issued in gold and silver. As far as street and common trading were concerned... You could cut your dollar coin into four pieces... then you would have a 4 US quarters ( each 25 percent of a dollar... easy to do as the coin was large)

Cutting them in half (1/2) again... is difficult to do accurately, using axes and hatchets or whatever else you have around! (Now they are small pieces of a coin!)

Each time the cut was always heavier on one side or the other... you could never cut a clean 12.5 (cents) percent of a quarter dollar. One cut would be 15 percent (cent) the other 10 percent (cent). The parties cutting the coin would have to agree on which cut side was the heaviest!

They could be so close or far apart on opinion concerning the cutting and subsequently in a trade... that the one percent (cent) made of copper and the five percent (cent) made of nickel were needed to make "fair trades"

 

The dime came about to stop people from cutting up quarter dollar coins when released... so they would use the (5%) nickels and (1%) copper cents instead. No need to chop up your dollar coins anymore!!!!

 

<Hard to cut precise with a mallet and chisel (on the best of days)>

 

 

Sincerely,

-Mel

Live long and prosper!

[solbjerg]

Hi woz

Yes - and it is also very funny that the rod of caduceus is used on the American ambulances - it ought to have been the rod of Asclepius!

☤

Caduceus (Alt+9764) Arial Unicode

As far as I remember it was an American colonel that had it painted on the military ambulances originally.

⚕

Rod of Asclepius (patron of the medical profession) (Alt+9877) Unicode Symbols

 

The "piece of eight" had the same role in the world then as the US dollar has had now for many years, but I think the best bet is the‖S sestertia (double vertical line Alt+8214)

That would mean that the dollar sign really had to be with two vertical lines! :-) even though that only divides the S into 7 pieces :-) but it devides the 8 into eight pieces!

The suggestion of U and S superimposed with the curve of the U following the curve of the lower S is an elegant solution. But the $ sign is used in many other contries. The piece of eight probably evolved from sestersia too.

 

@ Mel

The metal for the Libra pound may have been bronze originally!

Haven't yet checked their difference in specific gravity :-) but on the face of it in my mind that could account for the difference between a ~third of a kilo of silver and half a kilo of bronze?

Bronze in the usual mixture is about 8,5 in specific gravity (if we use a lot of tin (~80%) it is usually under 20%) in the mixture we may get it down to 7,7) - silver is 10,5

A quick calculation would then say that a £ pound should be around 360 grams of silver if we use the English # pound (weight)? Approximating in the head with bronze being ~25% lighter than silver would give 453 minus 25% =~340 grams.

The cost of the material probably plays a role.

 

Cheers

solbjerg

p.s. # also means "in nomine dei" → in the name of God - doctors (MD's) sometimes use it on prescriptions. (perhaps - I hope to God this is right!) :-) :-)

 

 

Like many people I always assumed the dollar sign had originated from the letters US (United States) until I took a bit of interest in it and actually looked it up :roll:

 

There are a few Alternative hypotheses on the Dollar sign @ Wikipedia page, Slash 8 and Unit of silver are interesting and sound reasonable but of all the alternatives I think Greek mythology is the most fun

 

 

All the best, woz of oz

[Toppack]

Ah yes, I remember when we used currency. :roll:

What's the Symbol for the Plactic-Cards, we use now? :?:

:lol:

[solbjerg]

Hi Toppack

Good question!!

I haven't found one yet - but may I suggest:

Object replacement character (Alt+65532) (hex FFFC)

 

 

Well, I couldn't find one - and then I just made one

 and called it Paying Card - made from the currency sign and placed on a card.

:-)

I made it with eudcedit and it work by me just as a normal font sign but perhaps it is only visible here by me so I'll show a picture.

http://forums.iobit.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8800&stc=1&d=1321330537

 

 

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

Ah yes, I remember when we used currency. :roll:

What's the Symbol for the Plactic-Cards, we use now? :?:

:lol:

[solbjerg]

Hi again Toppack

They have created a character for a Credit Card.

http://forums.iobit.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8811&stc=1&d=1321460959

But it is only available in Unicode version 6.

The general Unicode versions in computers is 1. or 1.1 and in the newest OS's version 2.

The Hex number for this Credit Card sign is 1F4B3 which means that they have expanded the unicode range with more than 1 mill. possibilities FFFFF (1.114.111) instead of the FFFF (65.535) we use now.

Cheers

solbjerg

[Toppack]

:lol:

Okay, Great,

Now How do I Add that Character to my Keyboard? :wink:

:lol:

[solbjerg]

Hi Toppack

You can't in the foreseeable future - what you can do - is to add it as a shortcut of the image in your toolbars. :-)

If you want to have it on your keyboard you will first have to wait for the Unicode version 6 to become standard - and then with MKLC create a personal keyboard layout - unless at that time the standard keyboard will be sporting it.. :-)

Cheers

solbjerg

 

:lol:

Okay, Great,

Now How do I Add that Character to my Keyboard? :wink:

:lol:

[Toppack]

Oh No, We are 'Ahead of the Technology Curve' Again! :cry:

:lol:

[solbjerg]

Hi Toppack

I succeded in finding some Credit Card fonts after all.

 

The font Credit Cards has to be used by all concerned – I'll write the number/letter for each underneath

v A D F c

Alt+118=v Alt+65=A Alt+68=D Alt+70=F Alt+99=c

 

m

Alt+109=m

http://forums.iobit.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8829&stc=1&d=1321650011

 

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

Oh No, We are 'Ahead of the Technology Curve' Again! :cry:

:lol: