Brasher Doubloon
The Brasher Doubloon is a rare American doubloon of eight escudos worth sixteen dollars, privately minted in and after 1787.
History
In 1787, Ephraim Brasher,[1] 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 appreciated by the United States. Brasher struck various coppers, in addition to a small quantity of gold coins, over the next few years.[2]
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).[3] Spanish America did the same as explained in es:doblón.
One of the surviving gold coins, weighing 26.6 grams and composed of 0.917 (22-
On January 12, 2005
The coin was the subject of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe 1942 mystery novel The High Window,[9] which was made into a film, Time to Kill, in 1942,[10] and The Brasher Doubloon, in 1947. It is also mentioned in Lawrence Block's 1980 Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza[11] and John Bellairs's 1992 The Mansion in the Mist.[12]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Ephraim Brasher". Archived from the original on 2023-01-14. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
- ^ a b "1787 Brasher Doubloon". Archived from the original on 2006-10-28. Retrieved 2006-12-06.
- ^ Kelly, Patrick (1821). "The Universal Cambist and Commercial Instructor: Being a Full and Accurate Treatise on the Exchanges, Monies, Weights, and Measures of All Trading Nations and Their Colonies; with an Account of Their Banks, Public Funds, and Paper Currencies". Archived from the original on 2023-01-14. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
- ^ Mark Borckardt. "Brasher Doubloon EB on Wing, Auction Description and Photos". Archived from the original on 2023-01-14. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
- ^ Mark Borckardt. "Brasher Doubloon EB Punch on Breast, Auction Description and Photos". Archived from the original on 2023-01-14. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
- ^ Mark Borckardt. "Brasher Doubloon Lima Style, Auction Description and Photos". Archived from the original on 2023-01-14. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
- ^ Gilkes, Paul (December 19, 2011). "Brasher doubloon brings nearly $7.4 million". Coin World. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
- ^ Kampmann, Ursula (January 28, 2021). "$9.36 Million: Why the Brasher Doubloon is the most expensive coin of the world". CoinsWeekly. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
- ISBN 0-394-75826-9.
- ^ "Time to Kill". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
- ISBN 0-06-087276-4.
- ISBN 978-0-14-240262-7.