$3 million buys a coin held by Geo. Washington

The Laguna Beach Independent
By ANDREA ADELSON
Friday February 4, 2005

The first U.S. gold coin, hand-struck in 1787 by a goldsmith who was George Washington's neighbor and called the single most important coin in American numismatics, was purchased for $2.9 million last month by Steven L. Contursi, a rare coin broker from Laguna Beach.

The historic coin, believed to be the third most expensive purchased at auction, will be exhibited at a Long Beach Convention Center coin show Feb. 24 through 26.   It will also be on display at shows this summers in New York and San Francisco.

"I thought $3 million was a steal," said Contursi, 52, president of Dana Point's Rare Coin Wholesalers, who has insured the coin for $6 million. "It's a historic treasure."

Known as a Brasher Doubloon, the coin is named after Washington's New York neighbor, Ephraim Brasher, and is the only one with the designer's initials punched across the breast of an eagle depicted on the coin.   The other seven or eight surviving examples have the initials on the eagle's wing, Contursi said.

The Brasher Doubloon's historical significance, he said, trumps that of the most expensive coin sold at auction, a 1933 $20 St. Gahdens gold piece, named for its designer, which Sotheby's auctioned for $7.595 million in July 2002.   That coin was widely marketed in a 50-page catalogue.

By comparison, the Brasher Doubloon was part of the "Gold Rush Collection," assembled by an Atlanta dealer for an anonymous client.   It was put up for sale at a numismatic dealer auction Jan. 12 in Ft. Lauderdale.   The auction catalog described it as "the single most important coin in American numismatics."   It was last sold in an auction in 1981 when it brought $625,000.

And the fabled coin was the subject of a Raymond Chandler novel, "The High Window," and a 1947 movie, "The Brasher Doubloon," based on a Philip Marlowe detective story.

Contursi also owns a 1794 coin believed by many experts to be the first silver dollar struck by the U.S. Mint.   That coin, on display at the American Numismatic Association Museum in Colorado Springs, is insured for $10 million.

As a youth, Contursi started sorting coins taken in payment on his New York Post paper route.   When old enough to buy from coin dealers, he discovered experts' opinions differed in setting values and he could exploit the difference.   "All of a sudden my hobby was making money," said Contursi, a 30-year coin dealer, whose shop has a huge inventory of museum-quality coins each priced at $10,000 or more.