Known in the

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

world as a "Moby Dick Coin", the Ecuadorian 8 Escudos

doubloon The doubloon (from Spanish language, Spanish ''doblón'', or "double", i.e. ''double escudo'') was a two-''Spanish escudo, escudo'' gold coin worth approximately four Spanish dollars or 32 ''Spanish real, reales'', and weighing 6.766 grams (0.218 ...

, minted in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, between 1838 and 1843, is the one ounce of gold "sixteen dollar piece"

Captain Ahab Captain Ahab is a fictional character and one of the protagonists in Herman Melville's ''Moby-Dick'' (1851). He is the monomaniacal captain of the whaling ship '' Pequod''. On a previous voyage, the white whale Moby Dick bit off Ahab's leg and ...

nails to the mast of the ''Pequod'', promising it to the first man who "raises"

Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 Epic (genre), epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler ...

. The coin is first mentioned in

Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works ar ...

's 1851 novel ''

'', in Chapter 36 "The Quarter Deck" and later at length in Chapter 99 "The Doubloon". It is often mistaken as a Spanish doubloon, but this coin was not struck by the Spanish crown or endorsed by the Spanish government. The Moby Dick coin was minted in the Republic of Ecuador, at the Quito mint, many years after its independence from Spain.

In pop culture

The coin plays a central role in Season 1, Episode 4 of Netflix's ''

Carmen Sandiego ''Carmen Sandiego'' (sometimes referred to as ''Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'') is a media franchise based on a Carmen Sandiego (video game series), series of computer video games created by the American software company Broderbund. Whi ...

'' in 2019. {{Moby-Dick Gold coins Currencies of Ecuador Moby-Dick Economic history of Ecuador Sun on coins