Collectible Coin: The 1787 Brasher Doubloon

One of the most collectible Coin in the World is the Brasher Doubloon. If you are into collecting Coins, this coin is definitely or should be in your top ten.

The Brasher Doubloon is a rare American doubloon of eight escudos worth sixteen dollars, privately minted in and after 1787.

In 1787, Ephraim Brasher, a goldsmith and silversmith, submitted a petition to the State of New York to mint copper coins. The petition was denied when New York decided not to get into the business of minting copper coinage. Brasher was already quite highly regarded for his skills, and his hallmark (which he not only stamped on his own coins but also on other coinage sent to him for assay proofing) was highly significant in the early United States. Brasher struck various coppers, in addition to a small quantity of gold coins, over the next few years.

The front of the coin shows a state seal with a rising sun, while the reverse shows the American eagle with a shield.

This coin, valued at eight Spanish escudos or sixteen Spanish dollars ($16), is of confusing English colonial nomenclature, called at first the "double doubloon" before settling as the "Spanish doubloon". This was disambiguated in references by calling the $4 the common doubloon or simply doubloon, and the $16 coin the doubloon of eight (escudos).

The coin is already rare, but certain versions of it have fetched a variety of prices, depending on their specific characteristics.

On January 12, 2005 Heritage Auction Galleries sold all three varieties of Brasher Doubloons as part of their Florida United Numismatists U.S. Coin Auction, Platinum Night Session. The coins realized $2,415,000 for the New York Style EB Punch on Wing NGC AU55, $2,990,000 for the unique New York Style EB Punch on Breast NGC XF45 and $690,000 for the rare but less iconic Lima Style Doubloon. The unique Brasher Doubloon, the first gold coin made for the United States, was sold in December 2011 by rare-coin dealer, Steven L. Contursi of Laguna Beach, California, to Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC) of Far Hills, New Jersey. An undisclosed Wall Street investment firm subsequently purchased it from Blanchard and Company of New Orleans, Louisiana for nearly $7.4 million, it was the most money ever paid for a coin minted in the United States. A 2018 private sale of another doubloon with the signature EB on the bird’s wing went for more than $5 million, according to Coin World. This record was broken by a Brasher Doubloon sold in January 2021 by Heritage Auctions for $9.36 million, a world record for a gold coin sold in a public auction.

This Coin is so Rare that’s why it’s Price is so expensive.

In 1786, Brasher’s firm designed and minted ‘Lima Style’ Brasher Doubloons, of which just two are known, including the Partrick Collection coin. There are seven surviving ‘New York Style’ pieces. There also exists one ‘New York Style’ Brasher Half-Doubloon, which is in the Smithsonian.

I hope that someone in my circle will collect this coin, well, I highly doubt that.

Cheerio!