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The Brasher Doubloon: America’s First Gold Coin

2022-01-24 20:00:00
The Brasher Doubloon: America’s First Gold Coin
Posted in: News, News

The Brasher Doubloon: America’s First Gold Coin

The Brasher Doubloon is one of the most unique pieces of American numismatic history and has even been referred to as the “Holy Grail of coins.” To the surprise of many, the piece was actually the first gold coin struck in the United States.

The Brasher Doubloon was created in 1786 by a smith and jeweler named Ephraim Brasher, who was neighbors with George Washington on Cherry Street in New York City. After the State of New York denied his petition to strike copper coins, Brasher took matters into his own hands and began striking coins on his own. In addition to the copper coins, he also produced gold doubloons, which were largely believed to be an attempt to draw attention to the coppers.

Brasher struck his gold doubloons in equal size to Spanish doubloons known as 8 Escudos, famously nicknamed “Moby Dick Coins” for their presence in Herman Melville’s 1851 novel. The doubloons weighed 26.4 grams and were composed of approximately 90% gold and 6% silver, with trace elements making up the rest of the coin. Unlike later U.S. gold coins like eagles and double eagles, which carried a face value of $10 or $20, Brasher’s doubloons were worth about $15.

Brasher struck two types of doubloons: a Lima style and a New York style. The Lima type was the first of the two, and it was designed to resemble the doubloons of the Spanish Empire, because it would be easily recognizable in the United States as currency. Their obverse shows two pillars with fleur-de-lis above ocean waves, and Brasher’s name resides below the waves. Two horizontal lines run behind the pillars and create a grid for inscriptions, “L8V,” “PVA,” and “742.” The reverse is divided into four quadrants by a Jerusalem cross. The top-left and bottom-right quadrants contain castles, while the other two contain lions. In total, only two Lima style Brasher Doubloons are known to exist today. One example is graded in astounding Mint State 61 condition and sold at auction for a whopping $2,100,000 in January 2021.

The obverse on the New York style depicts the sun rising over a mountain by the sea. The image is encircled by a ring of dots and the Latin inscription, “NOVA EBORACA COLUMBIA EXCELSIOR,” which translates to “New York and America: Ever Upward.” The reverse shows a left-facing eagle holding an olive branch and a bundle of arrows in its talons. Its head is surrounded by thirteen stars for each of the thirteen original colonies. The design is enclosed by a wreath, and the outer border reads our nation’s motto, “E PLURIBUS UNUM.” Six specimens display Brasher’s initials on the eagle’s breast, but one example displays them on its right wing. These seven coins are the only known remaining New York style Brasher Doubloons.

As “the Holy Grail of coins,” Brasher Doubloons expectedly demand incredible price points. In 1981, Yale University sold its New York style example for $650,000. Yale had held the doubloon since 1944, and it was the pride of its numismatic collection, but the university no longer wanted to bear the burden of protecting the coin with extensive security. Three decades later in 2005, the finest known Mint State 65 example sold for $2,415,000. Sixteen years later in January 2021, that same coin shattered the world record for most money paid for a coin minted in the United States, selling at auction for a whopping $9.36 million.

For all of its historical significance, the Brasher Doubloon will always stand paramount in American numismatics. So that everyone can experience it firsthand, an example has been placed in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.