samoleon (simoleon) antedating (1889)

[Stephen Goranson]

OED simoleon (1896) "Origin obscure: perh. modelled on NAPOLEON 1.
    A dollar."

1889 The Philistines By Arlo Bates (Boston) [g-bks] p. 180:

"Princeton platinum [....] It is a dream that people buy pieces of for
good hard
samoleans, and--
"Good _what?_" interrupted the country member.
"Shekels, dollars, for cash under whatever name you choose to give it [....]

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org