Brasher Doubloon denomination is listed as $15... why?

DennisH

It was a special treat to see the Brasher doubloon with EB breast punch at the recent Sacramento ANA show. (I've stolen Rick Show's photo from Charmy's show report to post here). But I'm wondering why PCGS lists the denomination as $15. Is it simply because of bullion weight?

savoyspecial

Link

MidLifeCrisis

Although Savoyspecial beat me to it, here's some information from the ANA website.

The coin is called a Doubloon because it is approximately equal in weight to the Spanish Doubloon which circulated actively in colonial America. A value of $16 was initially attributed to the coin, but later research shows that this value was erroneously placed and the “Doubloon” was actually worth $15 at the time of issue. This value was first suggested in a comprehensive article about Brasher Doubloons written by numismatist William Swoger and published in the June 1, 1992 issue of Coin World magazine. Additional information about weights and measures of the era was published in the 1993 book, "Money of the American Colonies and Confederation," by Phil Mossman.

David McCarthy, numismatic researcher for The Brasher Bulletin, the newsletter of the Society for Private and Pioneer Numismatics agrees. "The coinage standards of weight and value established by the Bank of New York in 1784 indicate that Doubloons weighing 17 pennyweights (about ¾ of an ounce) were valued at $15. Brasher's Doubloons weigh 17 pennyweights, and would therefore have been $15 coins," said McCarthy.

DennisH

That's great information Greg and Mark. Thanks for the education!

mrearlygold

Here's a baby Brasher regulated at $8 bucks. It was actually stamped twice, one by the royalist company while NY was under occupation and then again after being liberated from the revolution by Brasher who figured it at $8.00 Now I wish I could have bought it for that but whatcha gonna do

PerryHall

Why not just show the denomination as "1 Doubloon"?

Billet7

Good read. Thanks for the link Greg!