Editing Thaler (section)

==Spain and France==
{{See also|Spanish dollar|French franc}}
[[File:Philip_V_Coin_silver,_8_Reales_Mexico.jpg|thumb|left|The Spanish 8-real coin or dollar]]
[[File:1 ecu Louis XVI 1- 1784 M.png|thumb| 1 [[écu]] 1784]]

The discovery of massive silver supplies in [[Spanish America]] in the 1530s enabled the massive minting of Spain's [[Spanish dollar|eight-real coin]] well into the 20th century, weighing 27.47 g, 0.9306 fine. Being of nearly identical weight to the German reichsthaler, British colonists in North America eventually called the Spanish coin the dollar, which became the model for the [[U.S. dollar]] and the [[Canadian dollar]].

The rise of German and Spanish dollars in 16th century European trade lessened the demand for French silver ''francs'' and ''testoons''. In 1641 King [[Louis XIII]] therefore introduced a new ''Louis d'Argent'' equal to the [[Spanish dollar]] and worth three ''livres tournois'', weighing 27.19 g and 0.917 fine. In 1726 France issued its own thaler coin, the silver ''[[Écu#Silver écu of 1726|écu]]'' of 6 livres with about 26.7 g fine silver; it would also find currency in Southern Germany and Switzerland as the ''laubthaler''. Finally, in 1795 the [[French franc]] was established, with the 5-franc coin of 25.0 g, 90% fine silver being closest in size to the thalers used elsewhere. The French franc system would be expanded to other countries in the advent of the [[Latin Monetary Union]] of 1865.