In the last half of the 19th century world trading powers were at a serious disadvantage when trading with the Far East since most traders in the area would only accept coins other then Mexican Pesos at a deep discount. To make matters worse Mexican Pesos could only be purchased at inflated prices. In response to this various governments issued large silver coins to the Mexican standards (or in the case of the US to what they thought they were) known collectively as Trade Dollars.