Today I learned that the US dollar sign came from the Mexican peso

The peso is much older, going back to peso de ocho ("piece of eight") made famous by 17th century pirates. The symbol developed from the letters "PS" written on top of each other. Eventually the loop of the "P" disappeared and the vertical line was doubled, a common feature of many currency symbols. There is no basis for Ayn Rand's theory that the dollar sign developed from "US" with the lower connector of the "U" disappearing, as the peso symbol predates it.

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dancingtongue · 80-89, M

Why is it an either/or thing? I remember seeing pictures of early dollars -- historical photos, not the real thing; I'm not quite that old -- in which it was a U and S superimposed on each other. For it to be modeled after the Mexican peso makes a lot of sense. The breakaway colonies were trying to differentiate themselves from Britain everyway they could (including how to hold your fork and knife, which side of the road you used) and both Mexican Pesos and French Franks from the neighboring foreign colonies were in common usage.

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