Editing Doubloon

{{short description|Two-escudo or 32-real gold coin}}
[[File:doubloon.jpg|thumb|right|Spanish 4-doubloon, or doubloon of 8 escudos, stamped as minted in Mexico city mint in 1798. Obverse: [[Carlos IV of Spain|Carol.IIII.D.G. Hisp]].et Ind.R. Reverse:.in.utroq.felix. .auspice.deo.fm.]]
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 dollar]]s or 32 ''[[Spanish real|reales]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/doubloon|title=Doubloon|work=Dictionary.com|access-date=2015-08-31|archive-date=2015-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920031621/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/doubloon|url-status=live}}</ref> and weighing 6.766 grams (0.218 [[troy ounce]]) of 22-[[karat]] gold (or 0.917 fine; hence 6.2 g fine gold).<ref name="Jordan">{{Cite web |title=Spanish Gold |url=https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Sp-Gold.intro.html |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=coins.nd.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xPQ_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA156 |title=The Universal Cambist and Commercial Instructor: Being a Full and Accurate Treatise on the Exchanges, Monies, Weights, and Measures, and of All Trading Nations and Their Colonies .... Including a revision of foreign weights and measures ... |date=1821 |publisher=Lackington |language=en}}</ref> Doubloons were minted in [[Spain]] and the viceroyalties of [[New Spain]], [[Viceroyalty of Peru|Peru]], and [[Viceroyalty of New Granada|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 [[Pirates in the arts and popular culture|piracy]], in which gold coins were prime[[Looting| booty]].<ref>{{cite web |title=What Are Gold Doubloons? |url=https://www.apmex.com/education/numismatics/what-are-gold-doubloons |website=APMEX |access-date=3 May 2021 |archive-date=8 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808121454/https://www.apmex.com/education/numismatics/what-are-gold-doubloons |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==

[[Spanish America]]n gold coins were minted in one-half, one, two, four, and eight escudo denominations, with each [[Spanish escudo|escudo]] worth around two [[Spanish dollar]]s 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''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJnPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA319|title=The Universal Cambist, and Commercial Instructor: Being a Full and Accurate Treatise on the Exchanges, Monies, Weights and Measures of All Trading Nations and Their Colonies; with an Account of Their Banks, Public Funds, and Paper Currencies|last1=Kelly|first1=Patrick|date=1821|access-date=2021-11-29|archive-date=2023-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114124333/https://books.google.com/books?id=MJnPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA319|url-status=live}}</ref> [[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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eGqeFWhr-5wC&dq=doubloon&pg=PA138 McCullough, Alan Bruce. ''Money and Exchange in Canada to 1900'', Dundurn, 1984] {{ISBN|9780919670860}}</ref>

Doubloons, when exchanged for [[Spanish dollar|$4]] or 32 ''[[Spanish real|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 ''[[Spanish dollar|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 viceroyalty|Spanish Viceroyalties]] of Mexico, Peru and New Granada continued to mint doubloons.

==In other countries==
{{More sources|date=November 2024}}[[File:Italian States-Piacenza 1626 2 Doppie.jpg|thumb|Italian States, Piacenza, 2 Doppie (1626), depicting [[Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma]]]]
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".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4XycAQAAQBAJ&q=dobra+etymology+sao+tome&pg=PA420|title=Concise Oxford English Dictionary: Book & CD-ROM Set|first1=Angus|last1=Stevenson|first2=Maurice|last2=Waite|date=18 August 2011|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=9780199601103|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In Europe, the doubloon became the model for several other gold coins, including the French ''[[Louis (coin)|Louis d'or]]'', the Italian ''doppia'', the Swiss ''[[duplone]]'', the Northern German ''[[pistole]]'', and the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] ''[[Friedrich d'or]]''.

==See also==
{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}
* [[Brasher Doubloon]]
* [[Moby Dick Coin]]
* [[Spanish dollar]], also known as a piece of eight

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Spanish Empire}}

[[Category:Coins of Spain]]
[[Category:Gold coins]]
[[Category:Spanish Empire]]