Thaler
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The Thaler was a silver coin first minted in Bohemia, in 1518. The name thaler originally came from the guldengroschen (great gulden, being of silver but equal in value to a gold gulden) coins minted from the silver from a rich mine at Joachimsthal (St. Joachim's Valley, Czech: Jachymov) in what is now the Czech Republic and called the Joachimsthaler, where thal means "valley". St. Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary, was portrayed on the coin.
The Thaler was a very popular coin and became used thoughout Europe with equivalent coins such as the peso and the crown being issued and in general use. In England the word dollar was in use for the thaler for 200 years before the issue of the United States dollar, and until the half crown ceased to be used following decimalization in 1971, the term "half a dollar" could be heard for "half a crown".
The Thaler was introduced and became the most spread currency in Sweden under the name Daler during the early 17th century. The Daler was in circulation until 1873 when it was replaced by the Krona, the new currency introduced by the Scandinavian Monetary Union.
No currency currently in circulation is named thaler. Several, however, are acknowledging its legacy with their names: the dollar, used in several countries including the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and tolar, used in Slovenia.
See also