Brasher Doubloon (coin)
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The Brasher Doubloon is a rare American coin, privately minted in and after 1787.
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[edit] History
In 1787, Ephraim Brasher[1], a goldsmith and silversmith, was granted a petition to mint copper coins in New York State. 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) was highly significant in early America. Brasher struck various coppers, in addition to a small quantity of gold coins, over the next few years.[1]
One of the surviving gold coins, weighing 26.6 grams and composed of .917 gold, was sold at public auction for $625,000 in March 1981.[1]
The coin was the subject of nefarious goings on in Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe mystery The High Window[2]. It is also mentioned in Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza[3] and John Bellairs's The Mansion in the Mist.[4]
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[edit] Notes
- ^ a b 1787 Brasher Doubloon.
- ^ Raymond Chandler. The High Window. ISBN 0394758269.
- ^ Lawrence Block. The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza. ISBN 0060872764.
- ^ John Bellairs. The Mansion in the Mist. ISBN 978-0142402627.
