1787 Brasher Doubloon: America’s First Gold Coin

Specifications

Denomination: Doubloon (valued at $15 in New York currency)
Series: Brasher private coinage
Designer: Ephraim Brasher (private issue, New York)
Years of issue: 1787 (also 1786 Lima Style)
Key mintages: No mintage recorded; nine specimens known (7 New York Style: 6 EB on Wing, 1 unique EB on Breast; 2 Lima Style)

America's first gold coin: New York goldsmith Ephraim Brasher's 1787 doubloon — nine are known, and one sold for $9.36 million.

History

In 1787, New York goldsmith and silversmith Ephraim Brasher privately struck gold doubloons valued at $15 in New York currency — roughly equal to the Spanish doubloon of 16 Spanish dollars. They are the first gold coins made for the newly independent United States (CoinWorld; Wikipedia).
Seven are the "New York Style," showing a mountain-sunrise scene resembling the New York State seal, with Brasher's "EB" counterstamp punched on the eagle's wing — except one, the unique "EB on Breast" variety with the punch on the eagle's breast. Two more are the "Lima Style," imitating Spanish colonial gold coins (NGC via GreySheet; CoinWeek).
The record-setting example is the Stickney specimen, finest of the wing-punch variety, graded NGC MS65★ with CAC approval, from the Donald G. Partrick Collection — auctioned only three times since 1848 (CoinWorld; Numismatic News).

$9,360,000 — Heritage Auctions, January 21, 2021, Dallas: the 1787 New York-Style EB-on-Wing doubloon, NGC MS65★, CAC, from the Partrick Collection. A world record for any gold coin sold at public auction (CoinWorld; Numismatic News; GreySheet).
$7,395,000 — private sale, November 29, 2011: the unique EB-on-Breast doubloon, then the record for a nonfederal American coin (CoinWeek).
$2,415,000 / $2,990,000 / $690,000 — Heritage, January 12, 2005: the three varieties together — EB on Wing (NGC AU55), unique EB on Breast (NGC XF45), and the Lima Style doubloon (Wikipedia).
$2,100,000 — Heritage, January 2021: the 1786 Lima-Style doubloon, NGC MS61, CAC, a record for its type (GreySheet).

First-issue status: the first gold coinage of the United States, privately struck before the federal Mint existed (NGC via GreySheet).
Absolute rarity: nine known across all varieties, and they almost never trade (Wikipedia; CoinWorld).
Cultural fame: the doubloon is the archetype of the rare American coin — the subject of Raymond Chandler's The High Window (1942) and the 1947 film The Brasher Doubloon (Wikipedia; Numismatic News).

EB on Wing: Brasher's "EB" counterstamp punched on the eagle's wing — six known (CoinWorld).
EB on Breast (unique): the punch sits on the eagle's breast instead — a single coin, the most valuable nonfederal American coin by private-treaty record (CoinWeek).
Lima Style: imitates Spanish colonial pillar coinage rather than the New York sunrise design — two known (NGC via GreySheet).
Genuine examples weigh 26.6 g (0.86 troy oz) in 22-carat gold; any purported doubloon must be authenticated by a major grading service — this is a coin no one should ever buy raw (Wikipedia).

Composition: 22-carat gold (.917 fine) (Wikipedia)
Weight: 26.6 g (0.86 troy oz) (Wikipedia)
Diameter: Not verified in sources consulted — null
Edge: Not verified in sources consulted — null
Designer: Ephraim Brasher (private issue, New York) (CoinWorld)
Mint marks: None — private coinage; identified by the "EB" counterstamp punch (Wikipedia)
Mintage: No mintage recorded; nine specimens known (seven New York Style — six EB on Wing, one unique EB on Breast — plus two Lima Style) (NGC via GreySheet; CoinWeek)

No verified freely-licensed photograph of a genuine Brasher Doubloon was located — this entry ships imageless rather than risk a misattributed or mislicensed image. The finest wing-punch example set records at its two previous auction appearances as well (1907 and 1979, the latter at $725,000), making it a three-time record holder (GreySheet; CoinWorld).