The "leeuwendaalder" was authorized to contain 427.16 grains of .750 fine silver and passed locally for between 32 (at introduction in 1576) to 42 stuivers (the stuiver containing less silver over time). It was lighter than the large denomination coins then in circulation, namely the ducatoon (491 grains of .920 fine silver and passing at 3 guilders or 60 "stuivers") and the "rijksdaalder" (448 grains of .885 fine silver passing at 2½ guilders or 50 "stuivers"). The "leeuwendaalder" became the coin of choice for foreign trade and was popular in the Middle East, the colonies in the east and in the west. The Dutch "leeuwendaalder" was imitated in several German and Italian cities. These coins circulated in Romania and gave their name to the currencies of Romania and Moldova, the " leu", and of Bulgaria, the "leva". Production stopped after the introduction of the new silver coinage based on the "gulden" by Holland in 1680. This also contained a half 3 "gulden" of 30 "stuiver", which remained to be called "Daalder" in common speech. From New Netherland (New York) the "leeuwendaalder" spread to all Thirteen Colonies and became the namesake of the American dollar. The Thirteen Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy and their Associates each minted their own coins. Thaler and half thaler coins were minted by the cities of Zürich (1512),  Bern, Lucerne, Zug, Basel, Fribourg, Solothurn, Schaffhausen, St. Gallen and Geneva. The Reformed cities began to represent "city views" on the obverse of their thalers, as they did not have the option to represent either patron saint or ruling princes. The first city view thaler of Zürich was minted in 1651 (the so-called "Vögelitaler"). These currencies were abolished in 1798, with the introduction of the franc of the Helvetic Republic. The cantons resumed minting their own coins from 1806, now mostly denominated in "francs", with one Swiss franc equal to 1.5 French francs. Thaler size coins (in some instances named "Neutaler", "Nüw-Taler") were now denominated as 4 francs, or 40 "batzen"; the first two "Schützentaler", minted by Graubünden and Glarus in 1842 and 1847, respectively, had this denomination.