View source for Spesmilo

{{Short description|International currency}}
{{Infobox currency
|currency_name_in_local=
|image_1=1 Spesmilo.png
|image_title_1 =1₷ coin
|symbol=₷ 
<!-- |unit=spesmilo ? -->
|plural=spesmiloj
|obsolete =yes

}}

The '''''spesmilo''''' ({{IPA|eo|spesˈmilo|pron}}, plural '''''spesmiloj''''' {{IPA|eo|spesˈmiloi̯|}}) is an obsolete [[decimal]] international [[currency]], proposed in 1907 by [[René de Saussure]] and used before [[World War I]] by a few [[Great Britain|British]] and [[Switzerland|Swiss]] banks, primarily the [[Ĉekbanko Esperantista]].

The ''spesmilo'' was equivalent to one thousand ''spesoj'', and worth {{convert|0.733|g|oz}} of pure [[gold]] (0.8&nbsp;grams of 22&nbsp;[[Carat (purity)|karat]] gold), which at the time was about one-half [[United States dollar]], two [[shilling]]s (one-tenth of a [[pound sterling]]) in [[United Kingdom|Britain]], one [[Russian ruble]], or {{frac|2|1|2}} [[Swiss franc]]s. On 6 November 2022, that quantity of gold would be worth about US$43.50,<ref>[https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=0.025855&From=XAU&To=USD]. 6 November 2022</ref> £38 [[Pound sterling|sterling]],<ref>[https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=0.025855&From=XAU&To=GBP]. 6 November 2022.</ref> €44,<ref>[https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=0.025855&From=XAU&To=EUR]. 6 November 2022.</ref> ₽2692 Russian roubles,<ref>[https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=0.025855&From=XAU&To=RUB]. 6 January 2022.</ref> and SFr 43 Swiss francs.<ref>[https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=0.025855&From=XAU&To=CHF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826162551/http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=.0258558&From=XAU&To=chf|date=2016-08-26}}. 19 January 2014.</ref>

The basic unit, the ''speso'' (from Italian ''[[wikt:spesa#Italian|spesa]]'' or German ''[[wikt:Spesen#German|Spesen]]'';<ref>{{cite book |last=Cherpillod |first=André |year=2007 |title=Konciza Etimologia Vortaro |publisher=[[Universala Esperanto-Asocio]] |pages=432 |isbn=9789290170822 |language=Esperanto}}</ref> ''spesmilo'' is [[Esperanto]] for "a thousand pennies"), was purposely made very small to avoid fractions.

==Sign==
[[File:SpesmiloItalic.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.3|Spesmilo sign {{angbr|₷}}]]

The ''spesmilo'' sign, called ''{{lang|eo|spesmilsigno}}'' in Esperanto, is a [[monogram]] of a [[cursive]] [[capital letter|capital]] "S", from whose tail emerges an "m".<ref>[http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3390.pdf Proposal to encode the Esperanto SPESMILO SIGN in the UCS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604033643/http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3390.pdf |date=2011-06-04 }}, by [[Michael Everson]]</ref> The currency sign is often [[typeset]] as the separate letters ''Sm''.<ref>[http://www.usns.info/pdf/Aust_Coin_&_Banknote_USNS_002_092005.pdf Esperanto and the Dream of a World Currency] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926003932/http://www.usns.info/pdf/Aust_Coin_%26_Banknote_USNS_002_092005.pdf |date=2007-09-26 }}</ref>

In [[Unicode]], the character is assigned {{unichar|20B7|Spesmilo sign |html=}}<ref>[https://www.unicode.org/alloc/Pipeline.html Proposed New Characters – Pipeline Table<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> in version 5.2.<ref>[[Andrew West (linguist)|Andrew West]], [http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2008/04/whats-new-in-unicode-52.html BabelStone: What's new in Unicode 5.2?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005004505/http://babelstone.blogspot.com/2008/04/whats-new-in-unicode-52.html |date=2009-10-05 }}</ref>

==Miscellaneous==
* The ''[[stelo]]'' was another currency unit used by the {{ill|Universal League|eo|Universala Ligo}}  from 1942 to the 1990s.
* An Esperanto version of the board game [[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]] uses play money in denominations of ''spesmiloj''.<ref>[http://eo.wikibooks.org/wiki/Monopolo Monopolo]</ref>

==References==
<references />

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
* [http://www.eventoj.hu/arkivo/eve-050.htm "''Streboj al internacia mono''"] {{in lang|eo}}
* [http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/Esperanto.html Images of Stelo coins]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926003932/http://www.usns.info/pdf/Aust_Coin_%26_Banknote_USNS_002_092005.pdf ACBN Article about Esperanto coins]

{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}

{{currency signs}}

[[Category:Modern obsolete currencies]]
[[Category:Esperanto culture]]
[[Category:Currency symbols]]
[[Category:Alternative currencies]]
[[Category:Currencies introduced in 1907]]
[[Category:Currencies of Europe]]