Regulated Gold - 1783-95 Regulated Gold $2 1/3 on Great Britain 1777 Guinea (KM # 605) C/S Ephraim Brasher PCGS Genuine. This English gold piece has the mark of the celebrated goldsmith, Ephraim Brasher. It was regulated after the American Revolution by Brasher. The host coin is a 1777 Guinea from Great Britain.

The coin shows wear consistent with a grade of VF. It is plugged EB for Ephraim Brasher, the famous gold and silversmith. On the obverse the Brasher hallmark is oval shaped and is the same mark used on the famous doubloons. It is placed horizontally in the center of the Kings head. It is flattened and flush with the reverse surface. Brasher also neatly clipped the coin horizontally below the bust. The plug and the clip on the coin done by Brasher regulated its value to $2 1/3.

Coins from Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, and England all circulated concurrently in early America. However, each had a different weight and fineness making trade extremely inconvenient. The problem was first dealt with in colonial times, when coins were regulated. This practice continued after Independence. A goldsmith or silversmith would drill a coin and add gold in the form of a plug to increase its weight. If it was then overweight, he would clip and/or file its edge. Thus, coins were regulated to certain standards. The plugs that were added were then stamped with a hallmark indentifying the regulator who guaranteed the gold content of the piece. Regulators, who were also jewelers and highly thought of members of the community, included John Bayley, John Burger, John David Jr., Lewis Feuter, Myer Myers, Thomas Pons, Thomas Underhill, and William Hollingshead. However, none was so prominent and famous in numismatic circles as Ephraim Brasher.

The host coin shows a right facing laureate portrait of George III. He reigned from October 1760 to January 1820. He was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover. Unlike his predecessors, he was born in Britain and spoke English as his native language. Inscribed around the portrait are his name and title. The reverse shows the crowned four-fold arms with Georges full title abbreviated and the date, 1777, on either side of the crown.

Usually numismatists are concerned about a coins pristine quality. In fact, today a perfect coin is given a grade of Mint State 70. Coins that are holed, clipped, filed, plugged, and counter stamped have considerably diminished value to most collectors. Most coins in these categories are considered undesirable and would not be certified by any of the major grading services except in the details category. However, in the realm of regulated gold coins, all of the previous notions of quality and appeal must be abandoned in favor of a different set of assumptions. Even counterfeit coins have been regulated and are highly collectible today. Obviously a regulated coin cannot be in Mint State condition. The host coin must be described in detail and, if possible, graded separately from the plug or plugs.

Regulated coins have been found in collections of famous collectors and numismatists. These include Virgil M. Brand, Louis Eliasberg, John J. Ford Jr., John Work Garrett, Waldo Newcomer, and John L. Roper. Edward Roehrs had an excellent collection of regulated coins that was auctioned in 2010 at the ANA Boston Worlds Fair of Money.

It seems unusual to modern sensibility that colonists and citizens of the early republic would have silver tankards, beakers, and porringers; however, it should be noted that these items represented a persons surplus wealth. Since there were no banks where a colonist could keep hard money, they took all their surplus coins to a silversmith and had them melted and made into useful objects. Since paper money often depreciated, savings were safer if invested in silver plate where they could also be useful in the home. In case of a theft, silver could easily be identified by the hallmark and engraving and recovered. If cash were needed, the silver could be taken to a silversmith and be reconverted into money. The silversmith had to be a man of highest integrity because he was expected to turn a certain quantity of silver plate into coin or the opposite.

Ephraim Brasher (1744-1810) lived his whole life as a resident of New York City. He married Anne Gilbert on November 8, 1766. She was a sister of a New York silversmith, William Gilbert. Some researchers believe that Brasher and Anne as well as Mary Austin, his second wife whom he married in 1797, had no children. Others suggest that he did since a great-great-great granddaughter named Deborah is mentioned in the literature. Ephraim and his brother Abraham both served as apprentices with a silversmith whose name is not know today. Beautiful silverware survives today with Ephraims hallmark on it. Little is known about Abraham or his work.

Ephraim Brasher was a respected and valued member of the community. His stamp on a coin was taken as proof that the item was of the proper weight and fineness as seen on the present coin. In a Coinage magazine article, March 1978, The Bicentennial, David T. Alexander said: In the late 1700s, silversmiths and goldsmiths were particularly respected members of the community, often acting as bankers, assayers, and authenticators of the Babel of gold and silver coins of the world which circulated in the bullion-starved colonies and the new republic.

President Washington lived a next door to Brasher at Cherry Street in New York City. Cherry Hill was a fashionable section of New York in the 18th century. It is on the Manhattan side of the present day Brooklyn Bridge. Not only were they neighbors and friends, but Washington was a customer of Brasher. Many of Brashers silver pieces were used by Washington at state dinners to make a positive impression on his guests.

Brasher served in the New York Provincial Army from 1775 to 1776. He served as a grenadier and later as a major. He also was involved in local politics in New York, which were the equivalent to national posts at the time. Brasher was on the New York Evacuation Committee in 1783, which saw to the departure of British troops from New York City. In addition at different times, he was the Sanitary Commissioner, the Coroner, Assistant Justice, Election Inspector, and Commissioner of Excise. Along with his private business as a silversmith and goldsmith, he served the United States Mint doing assay work.

Although the grading services do not publish population reports listing regulated coinage, one can assume that this piece is unique. It certainly has great historical significance and numismatic interest and importance.