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someone says: Canadian dollar sign need two strokes...
I said: WTF!
2 but I think it's evolved a bit and so 1 is also acceptable.
One strokes is everywhere... $
One strokes is everywhere... $
two stroke is like the swash version
i can't find any info on the interweb...
$ = 1
two, because its prettier
what i see is, two strokes was the standard before but now its only one.
That $ is a monogram of U and S, which was used as a mark on money bags issued by the United States Mint. The letters U and S superimposed resemble the historical double stroke "$" sign: the bottom of the 'U' disappears into the bottom curve of the 'S', leaving two vertical lines. This double stroke dollar sign has been used to refer to the U.S. currency. Thus, the one stroke design may have been modified to the double stroke design to represent United States currency. This theory was largely popularized by the novel Atlas Shrugged by philosopher Ayn Rand. This theory does not consider the fact that the symbol was already in use in the time of the British colonies, when the term 'United States' did not exist yet.
The two pillars in the temple of Solomon
That the two vertical lines represent the two cult pillars Boaz and Jachin in the original Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem. This is based on the theory that Masonic symbols, such as the All Seeing Eye of God, appear on U.S. currency, however they did not in 1785.
There are various explanations for the origin of the dollar sign. The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing states that the dollar sign evolved out of the Spanish "Ps" for pesos (or "P8" piastres, pieces of eight, as one peso was made up of eight reales which is another Spanish currency). This abbreviation occured first in Mexico in 1696 and was only common in the Spanish colonies, never in Spain. The flying s then gradually moved on top of the P which became more and more of a single stroke. This sign was widely used and it is quite likely that the American Congress adopted this currency sign upon the creation of the United States Dollar in 1785. The first time that the Dollar sign appeared printed in a book and as official American Dollar sign was in »American Accomptant« by Chauncey Lee, New York 1797.
Other theories say that the double-stroke dollar sign evolved out of the superimposed U and S stamped on the currency bags by the US mint. The U would have lost its bottom bow at some point.
Another possible origin are the Pillars of Hermes (Hercules). This is an ancient name of the promontories on the entrance of the straits of Gibraltar, and when King Ferdinand was able to make Gibraltar part of the Spanish estates in 1492 he adopted the symbol of the pillars of Hercules. Later, King Charles V used it in his coat of arms and the symbol in combination with two hemispheres was printed on coins made of the silver and gold that was brought from America by the counquistadores. These coins where then spread in America and Europe and the symbol adopted as a currency symbol.
Dude this is so unclear... I hate that. No one seems to have a real solid answer to that question.