Cutler W. writes: Dear Doc, I have found a coin that has a date of 1933. It has a ship on one side and a shield on the other with the value printed: 5$00 on the bottom. Any thoughts would be great.
You have a 1933 Portugal 5 escudos. The”$” is used here like Americans use a decimal point and Europeans used a “,”. In fact, that was the original use for the “$” sign. The coin weighs 7 grams and is struck on .650 fine silver blanks (.1463 troy ounce pure). Almost seven million were struck in 1933. Market value ranges from the bullion value to about $15 in uncirculated grades.
