Prince Edward Island
Around the end of the 18th century, the Spanish dollar was in constant circulation in Eastern Canada and the United States. The value of the coin varied in different centers but was highest in Halifax. Therefore, whenever the merchants of Prince Edward Island (PEI) secured them, they sent them to Halifax to take advantage of the higher rate. The resulting shortage of money in PEI prompted the governor to gather in all the Spanish dollars he could and have their centers punched out. Both the central plug and rims were stamped with a sunburst. The punched centers passed as shillings and the outer rims as five-shilling pieces. The combined value of the mutilated coins was thereafter 20 percent greater in PEI than outside the island (and the individual components less valuable), so as a consequence, the coins became the official currency in PEI.
Read more about this topic: Holey Dollar
Famous quotes containing the words prince and/or island:
“No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be:
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“An island always pleases my imagination, even the smallest, as a small continent and integral portion of the globe. I have a fancy for building my hut on one. Even a bare, grassy isle, which I can see entirely over at a glance, has some undefined and mysterious charm for me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)