Coin systems with more than one subunit

[Figleaf]

Thought of that, but it is controversial. Disme (the spelling on the first types) may have the same root as the "decime" of the French revolution and be a denomination. However, it may also be a nickname, much like penny, nickel, quarter, 2 bits, and half are nicknames, even though they may refer to a British coin or Spanish peso/reales coins.

As a comfort, I offer that many US tax tokens are denominated in mils, so that in the end the US did have multiple sub-units.

Peter

[chrisild]

From what I know, the dime or disme is indeed a subunit of the US dollar. Then again, nobody really counts or calculates with it – people do not say "that'll be four dollars, six dimes and four cents". Now "nickel" and "penny" are actually nicknames ...

Christian

[Henk]

Whether used or not, the denomination DIME is prominantly stated on the coin.

[<k>]

In the UK in the 1960s, there were coins named farthing, florin and half crown. They were not regarded as true subunit names but names of coins. Similarly, the dime is not a true subunit. If it were, then the quarter would be denominated as 2½ dimes and the half dollar as 5 dimes.

[chrisild]

Initially the US currency had four, hmm, unit levels by law – the dollar was divided into ten di(s)mes, a dime was ten cents, and a cent was ten mills. The mil is gone, and I don't think anybody calculates with dimes (see my previous example). But keep in mind that a long time ago there were actually Half Dime coins ...

Christian

[<k>]

I sse. Thank you for the historical lesson. So the 'ONE DIME' is a piece of historical residue.

[Henk]

Belgium 2 Belgas (= 10 Francs) KM100 and 4 Belgas (= 20 Francs) KM101