Thedoubloon (fromSpanishdoblón, or "double", i.e.double escudo) was a two-escudogold coin worth approximately fourSpanish dollars or 32reales,[1] and weighing 6.766 grams (0.218troy ounce) of 22-karat gold (or 0.917 fine; hence 6.2 g fine gold).[2][3] Doubloons were minted inSpain and the viceroyalties ofNew Spain,Peru, andNew Granada (modern-dayColombia,Ecuador,Panama, andVenezuela). As theSpanish escudo (3.1 g fine gold) succeeded the heavier goldexcelente (orducado,ducat, 3.48 g) as the standard Spanish gold coin, the doubloon therefore succeeded thedoble excelente or double-ducat denomination.
In modern times, the doubloon is remembered due in large part to the influence ofhistorical fiction aboutpiracy, in which gold coins were prime booty.[4]
Spanish American gold coins were minted in one-half, one, two, four, and eight escudo denominations, with eachescudo worth around twoSpanish 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 thecommon doubloon or simplydoubloon, the $8 thedoubloon of four (escudos), and the $16 thedoubloon of eight.[5]Spanish America did the same (seees:doblón,Brasher doubloon).
After theWar of 1812, doubloons of eight were valued inNova Scotia at the rate of £4 and became the dominant coin there.[6]
Doubloons, when exchanged for$4 or 32reales 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 30–32reales.
In Spain, doubloons were current for $4 (fourduros, or 80reales de vellón) up to the middle of the 19th century.Isabella II of Spain switched to anescudo-based coinage with decimalreales in 1859, and replaced the 6.77-gramdoblón with a new heavierdoblón worth $5 (fiveduros, or 100reales) and weighing 8.3771 grams (0.268 troy ounces). The last Spanish doubloons (showing the denomination as 80reales) were minted in 1849. After their independence, the formerSpanish Viceroyalties of Mexico, Peru and New Granada continued to mint doubloons.
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Doubloons have also been minted in Portuguese colonies, where they went by the namedobrão, with the same meaning. TheSão Tomé and Príncipe 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 FrenchLouis d'or, the Italiandoppia, the Swissduplone, the Northern Germanpistole, and thePrussianFriedrich d'or.
