Description
Quality Silver Bullion is proud to offer the Pillar Dollar silver round. This piece is the first design in Regency Mint’s Historic Bullion Series. This series will feature the designs of Vintage World Coins as .999 Fine Silver bullion medals.
This silver round features the historic design of the Spanish Pillar Dollar. This round comes with a brilliant uncirculated finish, giving a never before insight as to what the Pillar Dollars might have looked like when they were freshly minted. The round is made from .999 fine silver, and weighs between 30.5 and 31.5 grams each (a little under to a little over one troy ounce). The original coins were issued weighing roughly 27.47 grams with a fineness of 0.93055, giving an ASW (actual silver weight) of 0.8218 troy ounces. Not only are these coins 99.9% pure silver, but they are also approved for IRAs. Regency Mint is an ISO 9001:2015 approved manufacturer.
History of Spanish Pillar Dollars
The reason the old Pillar Dollar coins were so highly sought after was because of the quality that was put into maintaining the weight and purity. While other coins were being mixed with copper or other base metals, the old Spanish Pieces of Eight maintained their integrity in weight and purity. The Pillar Dollars were some of the first coins used as currency in the United States. In fact, all foreign silver and gold coins were legal tender in the U.S. until 1857. Everyone from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln used Spanish coins because of the lack of circulating coinage in the country until then.
The obverse has “VTRAQUE VNUM” above in Latin, which translates as “BOTH ARE ONE”, referring to the two hemispheres shown below, which reminds the holder of Spain’s influence in the East and the West. Aside the two sides of the globe are two crowned pillars, which represent the Pillars of Hercules. Southern tip of Spain and the Rock of Gibraltar to the North, and either Monte Hacho or Jebel Musa on the North shore of Africa, marking the Southern side of the opening to the Mediterranean Sea. The wreaths on the two pillars say “PLUS” and “ULTRA”, meaning “MORE BEYOND”, again stating the extent of the Spanish Empire beginning in the 15th century. The Pillar Dollar was also minted in Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Chile, Bolivia, and Columbia.
