How to Identify the Brasher Doubloon

What It Is

The Brasher Doubloon was privately struck in 1787 by Ephraim Brasher, a skilled New York goldsmith and assayer who was a neighbor of George Washington. Modeled in size and value on the Spanish gold doubloon widely circulating in commerce at the time, Brasher's coin reflected the young United States' lack of a national mint and the resulting reliance on privately produced and foreign gold pieces for larger transactions.

Obverse Design & Inscriptions

The obverse depicts a sunrise over mountains with the sun's rays radiating outward, along with the legend NOVA EBORACA COLUMBIA EXCELSIOR, referencing New York and the young nation's aspirations. Brasher's punched hallmark "EB" appears on the coin, with its exact placement (on the eagle's wing on the reverse for the most famous surviving examples, or on the breast for another known variety) being a key identifying detail among the handful of known specimens.

Reverse Design & Inscriptions

The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with spread wings, based on the design of the Great Seal of the United States, holding arrows and an olive branch, with a shield on its breast and the legend E PLURIBUS UNUM arched above.

Size, Weight, and Metal

The Brasher Doubloon is struck in gold, sized and weighted to correspond to a Spanish doubloon of the period, making it a substantial, heavy gold coin compared to smaller denomination pieces of the era.

Mint Marks

There is no government mint mark since this was a private striking; instead, Brasher's own punched initials "EB" function as his personal maker's mark and the single most important identifying feature distinguishing a genuine example from any other gold coin of similar size and design inspiration.

Telling It Apart From Similar Coins

The combination of the sunrise-over-mountains obverse, the Great Seal-style eagle reverse, and the punched EB hallmark is unique to this issue and not found on any contemporaneous coinage. Because only a small number of genuine examples are known to exist, and each has an individually documented history, any claimed Brasher Doubloon should be cross-checked against the known population of authenticated pieces rather than judged on design alone.

Judging Condition at a Glance

Examine the sun's rays, the mountain range detail, and the eagle's feathers for strike sharpness, along with the depth and placement of the EB punch mark. Because each known genuine example is individually documented and extremely valuable, condition assessment for this coin is typically performed by top-tier professional grading services rather than through casual visual inspection alone.

Authenticity Red Flags

The Brasher Doubloon's fame and extraordinary value make it one of the most replicated and counterfeited early American coins, with both old and modern fakes in circulation among collectibles markets. Because genuine specimens are individually tracked and their ownership histories documented, any coin presented as a Brasher Doubloon without a verifiable pedigree tracing back to a known, authenticated example should be treated with extreme skepticism, and professional authentication by a major grading service is essential rather than optional for a coin of this significance.