Currency of Uruguay and fineness was retained, but the denomination was changed to "peso fuerte", with proposed coins of 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 peso fuerte in silver, and 2, 4, 8, and 16 pesos fuertes in gold. Uruguay's first postage stamps appeared in October 1856 for use on mail coach routes operated by Anastasio Lapido; the denominations were 60 and 80 centavos and 1 real (= 120 centavos). A second series followed in March 1858 in denominations of 120, 180, and 240 centavos (centésimos). Regular government stamps appeared in July 1859 in denominations of 60, 80, 100, 120, 180, and 240 centésimos.
World currency Habsburg territories. Prior to and during most of the 19th century, international trade was denominated in terms of currencies that represented weights of gold. Most national currencies at the time were in essence merely different ways of measuring gold weights (much as the yard and the meter both measure length and are related by a constant conversion factor). Hence some assert that gold was the world's first global currency. The emerging collapse of the international gold standard around the time of World War I had significant implications for global trade. Before 1944, the world reference currency was the United Kingdom's