Doubloon

The doubloon (from Spanish doblon , or "double", i.e. double escudo ) was a two- escudo gold coin worth approximately $4 (four Spanish dollars ) or 32 reales , ^[1] and weighing 6.766 grams (0.218 troy ounce ) of 22- karat gold (or 0.917 fine; hence 6.2 g fine gold). ^{[2] [3]} Doubloons were minted in Spain and the viceroyalties of New Spain , Peru , and New Granada (modern-day Colombia , Ecuador , Panama , and Venezuela ). As the Spanish escudo succeeded the heavier gold excelente (or ducado , ducat ; 3.1 g vs 3.48 g fine gold) as the standard Spanish gold coin, the doubloon therefore succeeded the doble excelente or double-ducat denomination.

In modern times, the doubloon is remembered due in large part to the influence of historical fiction about piracy . ^[4]

History [ edit ]

Spanish American gold coins were minted in one-half, one, two, four, and eight escudo denominations, with each escudo worth around two Spanish dollars or $2. The two-escudo (or $4 coin) was the "doubloon" or " pistole ", and the large eight-escudo (or $16) was a "quadruple pistole".

English nomenclature was confusing, though, since the $8 "double pistole" was the doubloon in English usage, while the $16 "quadruple pistole" was the doubloon in American colonial usage. This was disambiguated in references by calling the $4 the common doubloon or simply doubloon , the $8 the doubloon of four (escudos) , and the $16 the doubloon of eight . ^[5] Spanish America did the same as per es:doblon . See also Brasher doubloon .

After the War of 1812 , doubloons of eight were valued in Nova Scotia at the rate of ￡4 and became the dominant coin there. ^[6]

Doubloons, when exchanged for $4 or 32 reales in silver, traded at a high gold-silver ratio of 16 (since each real contained 3.833 g of 0.917 silver). Since the prevailing ratio in Europe was 15 in most of the 18th century, doubloons occasionally traded at a discount to this amount, at 30?32 reales .

In Spain, doubloons were current for $4 (four duros , or 80 reales de vellon ) up to the middle of the 19th century. Isabella II of Spain switched to an escudo -based coinage with decimal reales in 1859, and replaced the 6.77-gram doblon with a new heavier doblon worth $5 (five duros , or 100 reales ) and weighing 8.3771 grams (0.268 troy ounces). The last Spanish doubloons (showing the denomination as 80 reales ) were minted in 1849. After their independence, the former Spanish Viceroyalties of Mexico, Peru and New Granada continued to mint doubloons.

In other countries [ edit ]

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Doubloons have also been minted in Portuguese colonies, where they went by the name dobrao , with the same meaning. The Sao Tome and Principe dobra is the only extant currency with a name meaning "doubloon." ^[7]

In Europe, the doubloon became the model for several other gold coins, including the French Louis d'or , the Italian doppia , the Swiss duplone , the Northern German pistole , and the Prussian Friedrich d'or .

See also [ edit ]

• Spanish dollar , also known as a piece of eight
• Brasher Doubloon
• Moby Dick Coin

References [ edit ]