1860s Brasher Doubloon Robinson Copy PCGS MS64BN W-15100 Copper Ex John J. Ford Jr.

A copper copy of the 1787 Brasher doubloon, struck by Alfred S. Robinson of Hartford, Connecticut from dies cut by Joseph Merriam of Boston, and cataloged as W-15100. The design follows Ephraim Brasher's gold original. The obverse is a sun rising over a mountain and the sea with the legend NOVA EBORACA COLUMBIA EXCELSIOR. The reverse is a heraldic eagle within a wreath, dated 1787, carrying Brasher's EB hallmark punched into the shield. Robinson issued the piece in the early 1860s, when American numismatics was organizing itself into a hobby faster than genuine colonial material could be found. A copy like this one gave a collector a representative example of a coin almost nobody would ever own. Seven Brasher doubloons are known, and they trade in the millions. Certified PCGS MS64BN. Ex John J. Ford, Jr., whose holdings of early American coins, tokens and paper were the largest ever assembled in private hands.