A 1787 Brasher Doubloon, graded Mint State-63 by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) and insured for $10 million, the finest certified 1787 Brasher Doubloon is on display at the American Numismatic Association’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum in Colorado Springs until July this year.
The first circulating gold coin struck for United States is on loan from the Monaco Rare Coins of Newport Beach, Calif., which has insured it for $10 million.
The obverse design of the Brasher Doubloon shows an eagle holding an olive branch in one claw and arrows in another to symbolize that the United States wanted peace but was ready for war. Thirteen stars surround the eagle's head (representing the original 13 colonies), with the E PLURIBUS UNUM ("Out of Many, One") above.
The reverse design depicts the sun rising over a mountain in front of a sea, a symbolic of a new beginning. Around the design is another Latin legend, NOVA EBORACA COLUMBIA EXCELSIOR. Columbia was a nickname for the United States, where as "Nova Eboraca" translates to New York and "Excelsior" is Latin for "ever higher."
The Money Museum will have it on display with three historic coins from its own collection, the Bebee/McDermott 1913 Liberty Head nickel, and both the Cohen/DuPont Class I and Idler/Bebee Class III 1804 Draped Bust dollars.
Money museum curator Douglas Mudd says, "Not only is it a genuine rarity with high monetary value, it also is a historical treasure-trove because of what it represents as the first gold coin struck for the nascent United States. It is beautiful and historically important as a record of the early design concepts discussed in Congress for U.S. coinage."
The Brasher Doubloon will remain on display in ANA Money Museum until July this year.
On December 2011, a $15 dollar 1787 Gold Brasher Doubloon EB has been sold for $7.4 million.
