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Judge Dred (Fred)Copied and pasted from an article in cyberspace:
If the young George Washington actually threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River (or Rappahannock, as some contend), it was probably a legendary Pillar dollar. This superlative classic emerged from the New World's oldest mint at Mexico City, as its "O over M" mintmark attests -- the first precision-struck silver dollar of the Americas, perfectly rounded and far better minted than previous "pieces of eight." The Pillar 8 reales was a legal tender dollar in the coin-scarce 13 Colonies and remained so in the early U.S. The Pillars of Gibraltar (where ships embarked for the Americas) flank Old and New World hemispheres. The Bourbon crest displays lions of Leon and castles of Castile. Our scarce Fine quality carries prominent chopmarks of Chinese merchants, who tested the coin's silver content.