 Britain adopted the gold standard in 1821 and an imperial order-in-council of 1838 resulted in Dominica formally adopting the sterling currency in the year 1842.However, despite the circulation of British silver coins in Dominica, the silver pieces of eight continued to circulate alongside them, and the private sector continued to use dollar accounts for reckoning.The international silver crisis of 1873 signalled the end of the silver dollar era in the West Indies and silver dollars were demonetized in Dominica in the wake of this crisis for fear that a silver standard might return.