Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 51).djvu/66

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

60

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 51

provement of the military service; but these were checked by his premature death,^[1] less than two months after entering on his office. In his place, the command was assumed (April 23) by the officer next him in rank, Juan Crámer; but he surrendered this office on September 9 following to the new segundo cabo, Pedro Antonio Salazar Castillo y Varona. The latter, on April 25, 1836, issued an edict that "the plain [sencillas] pesetas coined in the Peninsula should be accepted [in the islands] at their lawful value of four reals vellón instead of five, as if they were pillar coins [columnarias];^[2] accordingly

↑ "In order to give aid to the widow of Torres, and pay the expenses of her voyage to España, a subscription was raised which produced 12,000 pesos; but we note that the promoter of this married the widow, and they returned to the Peninsula together." (Note by Montero y Vidal.)
↑ The "pillar dollar" was so called from the pillars on the reverse of the coin, which represent the pillars of Hercules, or the Straits of Gibraltar; this device was characteristic of the Spanish-American coinage. This dollar was the peso duro (or "hard dollar"), of eight reals; and its half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second parts were represented by smaller coins. The greater part of the supply of pillar dollars were made in Mexico; but this coinage ceased in 1822. In the Peninsula, the coins were the dollar – formerly of ten reals, but now of twenty reals vellón – the half, the peseta or pistareen (which is one-fifth of the dollar, or four reals vellón), and the half and the quarter pistareen. After the Peninsular revolution of 1821, pillar dollars were struck for a short time at Madrid, but these are easily distinguishable from the true pillar dollar. In 1810-16, silver coins were used in Brazil, which were only the Spanish dollar, softened by annealing, and then restamped; the pillars may be distinguished underneath this surface, by close inspection. See Eckfeldt and DuBois, Manual of Gold and Silver Coins (Philadelphia, 1842), pp. 33, 77, 119, 122. See also chapter on Spanish coinage, especially that called "vellón," in Lea's Inquisition in Spain (New York, 1906-07), i, pp. 560 et seq.; this latter, although debased, was the standard of value until 1871, when it was replaced by the decimal system.

[1] "In order to give aid to the widow of Torres, and pay the expenses of her voyage to España, a subscription was raised which produced 12,000 pesos; but we note that the promoter of this married the widow, and they returned to the Peninsula together." (Note by Montero y Vidal.)

[2] The "pillar dollar" was so called from the pillars on the reverse of the coin, which represent the pillars of Hercules, or the Straits of Gibraltar; this device was characteristic of the Spanish-American coinage. This dollar was the peso duro (or "hard dollar"), of eight reals; and its half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second parts were represented by smaller coins. The greater part of the supply of pillar dollars were made in Mexico; but this coinage ceased in 1822. In the Peninsula, the coins were the dollar – formerly of ten reals, but now of twenty reals vellón – the half, the peseta or pistareen (which is one-fifth of the dollar, or four reals vellón), and the half and the quarter pistareen. After the Peninsular revolution of 1821, pillar dollars were struck for a short time at Madrid, but these are easily distinguishable from the true pillar dollar. In 1810-16, silver coins were used in Brazil, which were only the Spanish dollar, softened by annealing, and then restamped; the pillars may be distinguished underneath this surface, by close inspection. See Eckfeldt and DuBois, Manual of Gold and Silver Coins (Philadelphia, 1842), pp. 33, 77, 119, 122. See also chapter on Spanish coinage, especially that called "vellón," in Lea's Inquisition in Spain (New York, 1906-07), i, pp. 560 et seq.; this latter, although debased, was the standard of value until 1871, when it was replaced by the decimal system.

[1]

[2]