From the tolar to the dollar. US currency owes its name to a forced Czech coin

The ancestor of all dollars was born five hundred years ago in Bohemia, in a new mint established in present-day Jáchymov. The Tolar is one of the important legacies that our ancestors gave to the world.

From the tolar to the dollar. The currency of the United States owes its name to a forged Czech coin The ancestor of all dollars was born five hundred years ago in Bohemia, in a new mint established in present-day Jáchymov. The tolar is one of the important heirlooms our ancestors gave to the world. The birth certificate of the dollar The ancestor of all dollars in the world today was born in Bohemia. The imaginary birth certificate was issued by the Provincial Assembly of the Kingdom of Bohemia in Prague on 9 January 1520. Its decision authorised the operation of a new mint in present-day Jáchymov (Joachimsthal in German). Its operators, the Šlik family of Pasoun, were to mint domestic currency (Prague grosz) and new silver coins of high purity (93.05% silver) and weight (29.33 g). At first they were called the goldsmith's grosch from Jáchymov, in German Joachimsthalerguldengrosch.

However, this was too long. The name was gradually shortened to Joachimsthaler (Czech: jochmtálský) or just Thaler (Czech: tolský or tolar). And it's not far from tolar to dollar, because it's just a linguistic mutation of the same name. Such a simple explanation will satisfy few. It doesn't really make sense. Why in 1520 did the Bohemian Provincial Assembly grant the right to mint coins to a West Bohemian family, which the Bohemian nobility of the time did not even regard as their own because of their disputed ancestry? Why did the local name of Czech coinage begin to be used in Germanic and West Slavic languages as a general term for large silver coins of high purity? And why did the newly founded United States of America in the late 18th century choose the tolar (dollar) as its currency, when it had previously been common to pay with pounds, shillings and pence? The dramatic fate of the Šlik family The historical, economic and state-law development of the Czech The sources of silver were of fundamental importance for the Czech statehood since the very beginning of Czech statehood in the 10th century. The very beginning of the history of the Czech kingdom. In the late medieval period from the 13th to the 14th century. The Kingdom of Bohemia became the centre of power of the Holy Roman Empire mainly thanks to its silver wealth. Without it, the expansive power politics of the last Premyslids and Luxemburgs would have been unthinkable. It was still at this time, at the end of the Luxemburg era, that the Šlik family entered history. Kašpar Šlik († 1449) had a brilliant career at the court of Emperor Sigismund.

As both Czech and imperial chancellor, with a good command of both Czech and German, he was instrumental in the adoption of Sigismund of Luxembourg as King of Bohemia and was a link between the Bohemian and imperial environment even in the post-Russian era. He earned his promotion to the nobility (he was the son of a Cheb burgher, a textile merchant) and later also extensive estates and titles. As an imperial chancellor, Kašpar Šlik had access to the imperial seal. Before Sigismund's death (before the seal was destroyed by commission), he produced parchment "originals" of monarchical documents. These "blanks" became a valuable commodity for him and his extended family after the Emperor's death. They could write anything on blank parchment. As Chancellor, Kašpar knew the formalities of such a document, and it was impossible to recognize a forgery at the time. To this day, it is still not entirely certain which of the Šlik property rights in northwest Bohemia were genuine. Naturally, various disputes arose from this. At a time when the Roman-German Empire was already defining itself as a new state-law entity, thewithout Bohemian lands (1485-1495), disputes between the Šliks and the Bohemian nobility even led to the adoption of a new law. In 1486, all older imperial privileges were invalidated if they conflicted with Bohemian land law. The territory on the Saxon border with its centre in Ostrov nad Ohří also fell within the sphere of Šlik property influence. In the last third of the 15th century silver was intensively mined in this area on the Saxon side of the Ore Mountains. It was almost certain that the veins of silver ore continued on the Czech side. That is why the Saxon dukes were already striving for Saxon control of this area, with the support of the Šlik family. In their disputes with the Bohemian nobility, the Šlik family also demanded imperial (Saxon) arbitration, although after 1495 the Bohemianlands were no longer subject to the resolutions of the Reichstags or the jurisdiction of the Reich Chamber Court.

These disputes eventually led to the so-called Loket War (1504-1506). At that time, an army of the Bohemian provincial cash went against the Šlik family and the main leaders of the family were sentenced to the loss of their throats, honour and property. A few years later, they could not take too many risks. They could lose everything. Under Saxon influence and protection Extremely metallic silver ores were reportedly found in the forest valley, where a mining settlement later grew up, only in 1512. However, the discovery was made in an old adit, which is evidence of earlier active mining activity in the area. According to the laws of the land, precious metals hidden underground belonged to the monarch. Those who found them on their land could only mine them if they had a special privilege to do so and if the monarch's share of the metal was secured. We do not have much information about what happened in the area of today's Jáchymov around 1512. The Šlik family did not have the right to mine. But where there is a huge profit to be made, there is no regard for the law. Initial investment, technology and experienced labour were supplied by investors from Saxony and the business could take off. For the first few years the Jáchymov company operated in a semi-secret illegal regime. The Czech trade union community had few tools to prevent this activity. However, unprocessed silver was not allowed to be exported from the country. Therefore, in 1515, the Czech nobility requested a charter of quite extraordinary content from King Vladislav, who was then based in Buda, formally granted to Hynek of Dubá. Mr. Hynek, on behalf of the king, was not only authorized to confiscate all metallurgical silver that someone attempted to illegally export "...as a thief and alandowner...", but also to levy a heavy fine (100 kopecks of Bohemian groschen) on anyone who was shown to be engaged or had engaged in such activity. Only a year later, the situation had already changed fundamentally. King Vladislav II died. Emperor Maximilian I became the main guardian of the under-aged King Ludwig. Emperor Maximilian's entire political career was intertwined with the financial businessof the South German (mainly Nuremberg and Augsburg) bankers who were lending to Habsburg politics at the time. In return, they enjoyed certain advantages. Several related families (especially the Fuggers of Augsburg) had full control of the preciousand non-ferrous metals in the entire area of Habsburg power interests, including Spanish overseas. They knew very well what was going on in Jáchymov and used their political influence to control this resource. The 1518 treaty between the Schlicks and a consortium of South German bankers was politically "covered" by Emperor Maximilian as a guardian of the Bohemian royal family. Most of the Jáchymov silver (97%) was exported to Nuremberg to the Emperor's creditors. This was also to cover the costs of running the mines and smelters. The remaining three percent was to be used to pay off the debt of the Šlik family. This change understandably caused dissatisfaction on the Saxon side. We even know from later disputes that Maximilian I "reimbursed" the Saxon Elector for part of his Jáchymov investment, but not in money, but only by a promissory note. However, it was never repaid. The turnaround after the death of Emperor Maximilian As soon as Maximilian I died (1519), however, the power-political situation changed completely again. The Bohemian nobility took advantage of this and began to negotiate with Šliky and the Elector of Saxony about a new regime in Jáchymov. The main condition was the monetisation of the mined metal. Metallurgical silver was not allowed to leave the area. It could be exported to Saxony (as a share of investors or as commercial silver to the international market), but only in the form of minted coins. Monetisation was ordered by a decision of the Landtag. It was clearly a punitive decision. It was an extra cost for the Schlöcks and the Saxon investors.

It was more economically advantageous for them to trade in silver bullion. However, the resolution of the Diet of 9 January 1520 makes it clear: This is a temporary measure until another political agreement can be reached. If the Šliks do not want to bear the costs of monetisation, no one is forcing them to do so. In that case, however, they must respect the laws in force and the law of the king: Newly mined silver cannot be exported out of the country. Like other miners, they should therefore take it to the government mint at a set purchase price. In this situation, the Saxon side also agreed to set up a mint in Jáchymov and supplied the necessary technology. Monetisation made it possible to record the total volume of production, which was important for taxation purposes. The tax levy of four percent of the purchase price of the precious metal was used to pay off the sovereign's debts. This money was therefore received by important provincial officials. Trial minting was probably already underway in Jáchymov at the end of 1519 so that examples of the new coins could be shown to the provincial assembly. Before 9 January 1520, there was no point in mass producing them until the Diet approved their external design, i.e. the depictions on the obverse and reverse.

Formally, the Jáchymov thalers were also government coins, issued in the name of King Louis. Unwanted child, but viable The very birth of the Jáchymov tolar was accompanied by considerable complications. In fact, it was a bit of an "unwanted child". However, it was to come into the world quickly. Between 1520 and 1528, more than two million thalers were exported from Jáchymov to Leipzig (which was then the main centre of the silver trade). These then travelled on to northern Germany and Scandinavia and also eastwards to Russia. There, however, they were called jefimok after the image of St. Jáchym. Most of these earliest thalers, however, ended up in melting pots as raw material for the production of local coins. That's why they are rare today, even though a huge number of them were produced. But why did the name tolar (derived from the place of production) become a generic term? Coins of the tolar type were already known in Europe before, the earliest being made in 1486 in Tyrol. Other miners commonly traded the precious metal in the form of bullion. However, silver could only be exported from Bohemia in the form of coins. This is why an unusually large number of Jáchymov thalers reached the market. It was the first coin of this type to be traded on a large scale. And it had another advantage: the tolar was metrologically stable for a long time. Its purity and weight did not change. The Czech tolars quickly gained popularity in the commercial world.

Therefore, other manufacturers also started to issue coins of similar parameters, which all began to be called tolars. At the beginning of the 1640s, they were still in circulation. However, even in the accounting chambers it was consistently distinguished whether they were genuine Jáchymov tolars (with a higher silver content) or ordinary tolars of other issuers. This ended after 1547, when the silver content of the Jáchymov issues was reduced to the level of other thalers minted by King Ferdinand I in the Austrian lands. By that time, the era of massive imports of Spanish colonial silver into Europe had already begun. The imports reduced the purchasing power of silver and the tolar coins became more affordable. The Habsburgs minted large quantities of silver tolar coins from colonial silver, mainly in their Dutch possessions. This gave rise to several metrologically distinct denominations, but all were called tolars: cross, lion, crown, imperial, Philip's, Burgundy and others. Dutch thalers became the main form of commercial silver exported to the Asian market by Dutch and English trading companies, which dominated intercontinental trade from the 17th century onwards. The journey of the tolar to the USA It was not until after the end of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) that Spanish osmireals began to reach the North American colonies in large quantities.

The British government prohibited the importation of precious metal coins into the colonies. Therefore, the American settlers created a system of credit payments, sounding in pounds and shillings of New England currency. However, by shortly before 1775, they too were demanding payment in precious metals for their goods, not, for example, shipments of overpriced tea from other parts of the British Empire. It was then that Mexican silver eightreales began to arrive en masse in the American colonies through Dutch merchants, because in this form the Dutch had commercial silver with which to pay. Immediately after the creation of the USA, the British monetary system was replaced first by Mexican silver eight-real bills. Since these coins were commonly called tolars by European settlers and Dutch traders, the new unit of currency in the USA was the tolar, or dollar (6 shillings of colonial currency = 1 dollar). By the mid-18th century, however, the Latin American colonial mints were themselves capable of producing high-quality coins by machine. Therefore, mainly large silver coins of eight reales, called pesos in Spanish, were exported to Asia. The coin looked like the European tolar and had a similar silver content. Dutch and British traders therefore also called the silver eight-real a tolar, or daalder in Dutch or dollar in English. Somewhere in Jamaica or New Zealand, few people probably know that their currency has its historical roots in distant Bohemia. However, it is one of the important legacies that our ancestors gave to the world. And it is worth remembering even after half a millennium.

The Jáchymov tolar from 1529 with new iconography, introduced after the mint came under the control of the monarch in 1528.

The Dutch "lion thaler" of 1631, iconographically imitating the old Šlikhov coins of Jáchymov. However, the silver content of the 'lion thaler' was significantly lower.

The Renaissance building of the Jáchymov mint