A Collector's Rare Coins Sparkle in the Limelight
The Laguna Beach Independent
Friday, July 31, 2009

Local Steven L. Contursi owns the first gold coin made in the United States, which will be displayed at a coin convention next week in Los Angeles.

The Brasher Doubloon, the first gold coin made in the United States that was hand-struck in 1787 by George Washington's neighbor and is now owned by a Laguna Beach resident, will be featured in a coin trade show in Los Angeles next week.

Steven L. Contursi's coin is insured for $7 million for the five-day public display at the World's Fair of Money, Aug. 5 - 9.

More than 10,000 visitors are expected to see the one-of-a-kind gold piece, described as "the single most important coin in American numismatics," according to an industry publication. Contursi, president of Dana Point's Rare Coin Wholesalers, acquired the coin in 2005. Besides its rarity, he says the coin is historically significant by representing "the beginnings of our economic system."

He also will exhibit what many numismatic experts believe is the very first silver dollar struck by the United States Mint in 1794.   It is insured for $10 million.

This will be the first time these two coins have been publicly exhibited outside a museum.

The Brasher Doubloon was struck in 1787 by George Washington's Manhattan neighbor, silversmith and well-known political figure of the day, Ephraim Brasher.   Only seven Brasher Doubloons of this type survive today, and this specimen is unique.   It is the only one with the designer's initials, "EB," punched across the breast of an eagle depicted on the coin.   The six other surviving examples have the initials on the eagle's right wing.

The unique Brasher Doubloon was kept in Baltimore for nearly 100 years when it was owned by Baltimore & Ohio Railroad magnate T. Harrison Garrett and his family, and later by The Johns Hopkins University.   The coin was the subject of a 1942 Raymond Chandler novel, "The High Window," and a subsequent 1947 movie, "The Brasher Doubloon," based on Chandler's story about fictional detective Philip Marlowe.