Which coin had the nickname 'half a dollar'?

Answer 1

In the early 19th century, a British five-shilling piece, or crown, was sometimes called a dollar, probably because its appearance was similar to the Spanish dollar. This expression appeared again in the 1940s, when US troops came to the UK during World War II. At the time a US dollar was worth about 5s., so some of the US soldiers started calling it a dollar. Consequently, they called the half crown "half a dollar". The expression caught on among some locals and could be heard into the 1960s.