Jim Greve wrote:

>Heads or tails.
>
Just to add a little bit, this in in reference to the markings on a
Spanish milled coins minted from 1732-1772, called "pillar" coins. One
side of the coin has the globe with two pillars or "piles" on either
side, and the reverse has a coat of arms with a cross in the middle
separating the four quadrants of the arms.  The piles which are wrapped
in an "S" shaped ribbon are supposedly the origin of the dollar sign.$
The Spanish milled dollar, often cut into eight "bits" to make small
change, was a common coin in the American colonies.

Regards,

Tom Apple

>
>
>In a court case from Orange Co, VA, 1750, came the following jury
>verdict:  We of the Jury find that the Tobacco . . . was won by the Plt
>of the Deft at a game between them called cross and pile . . ."  What
>was "cross and pile"?
>

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