Comments on: The Brasher Doubloon

The Brasher Doubloon

goatdog — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 14:35:10 -0800

The Brasher Doubloon has been called "the single most important coin in American numismatics." Struck in 1787 by George Washington's neighbor Ephraim Brasher, it's believed to be the first gold coin made in the United States. Seven of Brasher's 1787 doubloons are in existence, each with the initials EB stamped on an eagle; the one that gets title-case capitalization is the only one where the intitials are stamped on the eagle's breast instead of its wing [hi-res pics: front, back]. In January 2005, it was sold at auction for $2.9 million. It's now on a tour of the United States (and insured for $6 million). In Raymond Chandler's 1942 novel The High Window and the 1947 film adaptation The Brasher Doubloon, Philip Marlowe investigates the theft of the doubloon.

By: MrZero

MrZero — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 15:45:47 -0800

Excellent post. The only thing that would make this story better would be if I bought one for $5 at a garage sale.

By: davy

davy — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 15:58:13 -0800

Wait: there really IS such a thng? Oh.

By: halcyon_daze

halcyon_daze — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 17:33:25 -0800

I was intrigued by the inscription "Nova Eboraca"--apparently, that's "New York" in latin. Excellent post!

By: interrobang

interrobang — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 18:28:58 -0800

Very interesting post, thanks.

By: Hogshead

Hogshead — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 19:04:25 -0800

Investigating whether Eboraca was the Roman name for York (it wasn't, it was Eboracum), I discovered this and its homepage here . There's a version of Wikipedia in Latin, with 3768 articles so far. Who knew?

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 19:34:02 -0800

Excelsior!

By: jba

jba — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 22:20:38 -0800

great post, thanks goatdog.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 23:08:55 -0800

amazing post. thank you! the people who publish these crazy things (site courtesy of our own bhance) mention the Brasher Doubloon on occasion.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 06:33:24 -0800

Interesting that almost the only Google hits "Nova Eboraca" gets refer to this coin; there are a couple from Latin sites in which it's used for New York State ("Syracusae urbs in Nova Eboraca est"). My guess is that the feminine form is used for the state because the Latin words for 'state' (civitas, respublica) are feminine.... yes, footnote 44 here quotes a medieval phrase monasterium in Eboraca civitate. So that explains that. Very nice post!