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Most expensive coin sold at auction: world record set by The 1787 New York-Style Brasher Doubloon

Jan 25, 2021
Most expensive coin sold at auction: world record set by The 1787 New York-Style Brasher Doubloon
DALLAS, Texas, United States--The 1787 New York-Style Brasher Doubloon, W-5840, NGC MS65★, also known throughout numismatics and beyond as "The World’s Most Famous Coin," sold for a record $9,360,000 at a public auction of important U.S. coins held by Heritage Auctions, Jan. 21, 2021, in Dallas, Texas, thus setting the NEW world record for the Most Expensive Coin Sold At Auction (Most Valuable Gold Coin), according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

The 1787 gold coin is the finest of the mere seven specimens known to exist.

Brasher Doubloons have been popularized in detective novels and motion pictures, such as The High Window, by Raymond Chandler, and the feature film The Brasher Doubloon (20th Century Fox, 1946).

To the average American citizen, the Brasher Doubloon is the archetype of a rare and valuable coin and enjoys a lofty status in pop culture that is unapproachable by any other coin.
Most expensive coin sold at auction: world record set by The 1787 New York-Style Brasher Doubloon
Importance of the Brasher Doubloon
In addition to their absolute rarity, the New York-style doubloons are among the most important issues in the colonial coinage series. Along with the 1786 Lima-style doubloons, they comprise the earliest of the few pre-federal, private gold coins produced in the United States for the purpose of circulation.
 
B. Max Mehl commented on the importance of the New York-style doubloons, in both the colonial and private gold coinage collecting disciplines, in his catalog of the James Ten Eyck Collection:

"This celebrated coin has the unusual distinctive importance of being rightfully included in the American Colonial Series, and, as it is the first issue of a private gold coinage, is also included in that important series. For historical interest and numismatic rarity, this great coin is second to none. It is rightfully recognized as one of the greatest numismatic rarities of the world."
Douglas Mudd, Curator of the ANA Money Museum, notes, "The Brasher Doubloons have a mystique and aura all their own among American coins." Their appeal transcends traditional numismatics, extending far into other realms of popular culture. The coins have been popularized in detective novels and motion pictures, like The High Window, by Raymond Chandler, and The Brasher Doubloon, produced by 20th Century Fox, 1946. To the average American citizen, the Brasher doubloon is the archetype of a rare and valuable coin and enjoys a lofty status in pop culture that is unapproachable by any other coin.
Most expensive coin sold at auction: world record set by The 1787 New York-Style Brasher Doubloon

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the previous auction world record for a gold coin was $7.59 million for a 1933 $20 Double Eagle, which was sold in 2002 in New York.


Heritage Auctions (HA.com) is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.

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