Brasher trio brings $6 million

Coin World
by Paul Gikes
Monday January 31, 2005

New York Style doubloons top $2 million each.

It took less than five minutes January 12th for three early Colonial American gold coins bearing the 'EB' counterstamp of New York goldsmith Ephraim Brasher to bring more than $6 million at public auction in Florida.  The total included the $2.99 million (including the 15% buyers fee) bid by Steve Contursi from Rare Coin Wholesalers (RCW), Dana Point, Calif., for the only known specimen of the 1787 Brasher doubloon with the EB countermark in the eagle’s breast. 

Each of the winning bids occurred during the "Platinum Night" auction conducted by Heritage Numismatic Auctions, Dallas, in conjunction with the Florida United Numismatists show. 

It took less than five minutes Jan. 12 for three early Colonial American gold coins bearing the EB counterstamp of New York goldsmith Ephraim Brasher to bring more than $6 million at public auction in Florida. 

The total included the $2.99 million (including the 15 percent buyer’s fee) bid by Steve Contur- By the time the slightly more than 900 lots in two sessions (including the John Hugon collection of Barber coinage and the Gold Rush Collection) were sold, the total price, with the buyers’ fees, exceeded $35.65 million.  All prices quoted include the buyer’s fee, unless otherwise stated. 

Contursi, who became slightly unsettled when his $2.4 million floor bid was surpassed by another bidder, said he was ready to pay more than $3 million to acquire the doubloon, which was graded Extremely Fine 45 by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America. 

Contursi said Don Kagin, from Kagin’s in Tiburon, Calif., is a one-third owner in the transaction for the unique Brasher piece. 

Before the gavel was sounded by Heritage auctioneer Leo Frese at the $2.6 million hammer level, Kagin was already the successful bidder on three other coins bearing EB counterstamps: $7,475 for a Fine to Very Fine regulated gold 1727-M Brazilian 1,600-reis coin; $609,000 for the 1786 Lima Style Brasher doubloon, graded NGC EF-40; and $2,415,000 million for the NGC About Uncirculated 55 Punch on Wing 1787 New York Brasher doubloon.

An EB counterstamped 1754-B Brazilian 6,400-reis coin was purchased for $19,550 by Larry Hanks from Hanks and Associates, El Paso, Texas. 

Don Kagin said the three counterstamped coins he bought, as well as the unique specimen he acquired in conjunction with Contursi, would likely be sold to one or more of his clients. 

Kagin said he has previously handled the two 1787 Brasher doubloons on separate occasions.  He said his father, Art Kagin, who has been involved in numismatics for almost 80 years, handled the 1786 coin in the 1950s when Don was a toddler. 

Contursi said he plans to exhibit the unique 1787 doubloon, as well as RCW’s Professional Coin Grading Service Specimen 66 1794 Flowing Hair dollar (believed by some experts to be the first U.S. silver dollar struck), and an 1854 Kellogg and Company $20 gold piece graded PCGS Specimen 69, during the Long Beach (Calif.) Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo in February. 

While Contursi said he was ready to bid above $3 million if necessary to acquire the unique doubloon, he was surprised when Laura Sperber from Legend Numismatics, Lincroft, N.J., interjected a $2.5 million bid seconds before Contursi’s $2.4 million bid might have been gaveled. 

Sperber said she and business partner Bruce Morelan, who was on the other end of the phone with Sperber during the bidding, were understandably disappointed at being outbid, especially after dropping out at the $1.65 million hammer level during bidding on the 1787 Punch on Wing doubloon won by Don Kagin. 

Sperber said she waited to place her lone bid for the unique doubloon, believing the $100,000 increments would benefit her and Morelan’s chances.  Sperber, who said the doubloon was being sought for inclusion in Legend’s own collection of U.S. rarities, said she and Morelan would focus their attention on other U.S. rarities, but would be in the hunt should another doubloon return to the market. 

Contursi said he was thrilled with the auction’s outcome. 

"I feel this is the most significant U.S. gold coin there is," Contursi said.  "It transcends numismatics.  It’s the first real U.S. gold coin.  While the Lima Style doubloon was counterstamped a year earlier, in 1786, this [the 1787 New York Style doubloon] is the first gold coin to appear with U.S. legends and icons." 

Contursi said he welcomed Kagin’s partnership in the coin’s acquisition. 

"We wanted to have a partner in the coin who would really appreciate it," Contursi said.  "We weren’t looking for just a financial partner.  We considered who the coin would likely go to.  We were looking for a financial partner who had a real reason for buying this coin, and that was Don." 

Kagin said he considered the acquisition of the 1786 Lima Style doubloon to be the bargain of the auction.  It hasn’t earned the notoriety of the New York style pieces, but is rarer, with only two known examples, he said.  Seven full-sized New York Style doubloons are known.

"It is truly the first privately issued gold coin in America," Kagin said.  "It has a tremendous amount of history." 

Brasher was a well-known silversmith and goldsmith of the Colonial era, whose customers included President Washington.  Brasher also regulated precious metals coins for the Bank of New York.  As a regulator, Brasher checked a coin’s fineness and weight, then countermarked it with his EB hallmark if the coin met the standards of the day.  Bank tellers could then accept the regulated coins without having to check their weight. 

Kagin said a case can be made that the unique doubloon is the most valuable coin in America, if not the world.  He would rate it even more valuable than the 1933 Saint-Gaudens gold $20 double eagle for which $7,590,020 was paid by an anonymous collector at public auction in 2002. 

The 1933 production of 445,000 double eagles was never officially released.  Two pieces are held in the National Numismatic Collection and an unknown number of examples are rumored to exist in a numismatic underground.   Federal officials consider all 1933 double eagles in private possession subject to confiscation, except for the example sold in 2002.  The total number of examples extant remains a mystery. 

"It’s history vs. mystery," Kagin said.  "The doubloon tells about the country’s beginning, the beginning of its financial history." 

The sale of the Brasher coins is both a joy and somewhat bittersweet for Al C. Adams, who is from the Gold Rush Gallery in Dahlonega, Ga.  He spent 25 years meticulously selecting each and every coin for the discerning interests of his southeastern U.S. client in assembling the Gold Rush Collection.  The two New York Style doubloons were part of the collection until they were sold Jan. 12. 

"The timing was right for the client," he said.  "I advised him but it was his final decision to sell.   He’s always bought coins.  He’s never sold before.  He’s not necessarily cashing out.  He’s still interested in coins.  No matter the series, he likes quality." 

Adams said the collector has a saying displayed on his desk that sums up his collecting philosophy: "My tastes are simple.  I only like the finest."