Applescript "Numbers" detect special character "$"

I am executing Applescript with the application "Numbers".

I want to detect the currency code "$" when dowloaded in a field from a web file.

The form of the field is as an example is "$0.10", say.

1. I have a test frame which allows for detecting such text as,

set DOLLARvalue to "$0.10"

display dialog ("DOLLARvalue : " & DOLLARvalue)

The display shows DOLLARvalue to be "$0.10"

2. When the following partial script is used:

Given the Numbers Table:

repeat with k from 1 to NUMBER_OF_ROWS

set THEdividend to value of cell 1 of row k

display dialog ("THEdividend : " & THEdividend)

end repeat

The display dialog shows THEdividend to be "0.1"

That is the character "$" is not detected.

3 How can I detect the character "$" when using "Numbers" ?

I would be very grateful for the explanation.

Many thanks

Regards

MacBook 6.1

OS X Yosemite 10.10.4

Numbers 3.5.3

APPLESCRIPT 2.4: Version 2.7 (176)