First U.S. Gold Coin May Fetch $15 Million in Private Sale
- Brasher Doubloon from pre-mint era is an icon of Americana
- Washington’s neighbor minted it. Philip Marlowe hunted it.
One of the world’s most coveted coins is coming to the market.
The Brasher Doubloon, the first gold coin struck in the U.S., is being offered privately at a $15 million asking price, according to numismatic adviser Jeff Sherid. His firm, Los Angeles-based PCAG Inc., is marketing the coin on behalf of a collector he would only identify as a former Wall Street executive.
The doubloon is dated 1787 -- 11 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the same year the Constitution was written and five years before the federal mint opened in Philadelphia. Metalsmith Ephraim Brasher, George Washington’s next-door neighbor on New York’s Cherry Street, privately minted a small batch of the coins and punched this unique version with his hallmark “EB” on the eagle’s breast. The soon-to-be president almost certainly handled it, according to longtime numismatist John Albanese, founder of Certified Acceptance Corp., a coin-grade verification service.
“If you talk to coin nerds and old-time experts, I’m guessing they’d all say the Brasher Doubloon is the greatest coin ever because of the history,” Albanese said.