Dubloons

The doubloon (from Spanish ''doblón'', or "double", i.e. ''double escudo'') was a two-''escudo'' gold coin worth approximately four Spanish dollars or 32 '' reales'', and weighing 6.766 grams (0.218 troy ounce) of 22-karat gold (or 0.917 fine; hence 6.2 g fine gold). 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 (3.1 g fine gold) succeeded the heavier gold ''excelente'' (or ''ducado'', ducat, 3.48 g) 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, in which gold coins were prime booty.

History

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''. Spanish America did the same (see '' :es:doblón'', 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.

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 vellón'') 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 ''doblón'' with a new heavier ''doblón'' 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

Doubloons have also been minted in Portuguese colonies, where they went by the name ''dobrão'', with the same meaning. The São Tomé and Príncipe dobra is the only extant currency with a name meaning "doubloon".

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

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

References

{{Spanish Empire

Coins of Spain
Gold coins
Spanish Empire