THE KAI$ER'$ BUCK $IGN

Unusual as it might sound, the buck $ign of every nation that employs pesos or dollars as currency is connected to the motto of Spain and to the Habsburgs.

Reader's expected reply: WHAT THE...?

Let's take a little close look at the arms of Spain (a complicated affair, if we compare them with those of German regions, the Swedish three crowns, and the French tricolor cockade)...

Notice the two columns standing on water (that blue and wavy...) on either side of the crest.

The one to the right (to your left) with the imperial crown (of Austria) and the word PLUS.

The one to the left (to your right) with the royal crown (of Castile) and the word ULTRA.

Together, they read "PLUS ULTRA" ("FAR YONDER"), the motto of Spain.

The same columns, standing alone.

The one to the right (to your left) with the imperial crown (of Austria) and the word PLUS.

The one to the left (to your right) with the royal crown (of Castile) and the word ULTRA.

Together, they read "PLUS ULTRA" ("FAR YONDER"), the motto of Spain.

This is the emblem of Spain's most powerful ruler ever, Charles V, the first Spanish Habsburg,

Kaiser of the German Empire and King of the Spanish Realms.

Hence the crowns on the pillars. The crowns of a king and kaiser, tied together to signify a person with both titles.

The motto "PLUS ULTRA", which can be rendered as "FAR YONDER", refers to both his own striving for a good rule and Spanish colonialism in the New World.

"PLUS ULTRA" was once Charles V Habsburg's own motto. The young kaiser's own physician, a reputed advisor and man of science, had recommended it to Charles on the eve of his coronation.

Two crowned pillars on the waves of the Atlantic, tied up with a ribbon with a motto that screams of "not enough" and of perseverance, to represent a great ruler who unites both titles and all the lands of the Spanish Realms and the Habsburg German Empire.

The buck sign is just the crest on Charles V's New World-silver coins, stylized.

Kaiser Charles V as he will appear, a dashing young Habsburg heir, on TVE

in the series of this autumn.