========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm ]========
> Two bits is a quarter dollar.....but what is one bit? (The US, by the
> way, was the first country in the world to adopt a metric system for
> its currency.)
One bit is an eighth of a Spanish dollar, a coin widely used in the
Southeast and elsewhere back in the 17 and 18 hundreds, when all
paper money was issued by banks of dubious character, and there were
no American or British coins to be used. (British taxes and mercantile
policy effectively drained coins and other forms of ready case out of
the colonies, and the US didn't coin money until well into the 19th
century, I think ???.) The Spanish dollar (from Austrian "thaler")
was the unofficial standard, partly because the Spanish coins were
were widely available, and widely trusted as to purity and value, etc.
I think they were silver. At any rate, they were too valuable for
most purchases for which American used them, so they cut them into 8
pieces, each called a bit.
Dian Deevey
Would you like to reach Members of the Ganoksin Project to educate
them about the wonderful array of supplies, services and products
you have to offer?
Please request a copy of the Ganoksin Media Kit if you would like
more indepth information regarding Ganoksin's advertising services.
Navigate by Topic:
[
