1783-95 EB/F&G Regulated US $8 9DWT. EPHRIAM BRASHER, F&G Portugal 1739 PECA, NGC VF35. (KM # 221). This unusual and outstanding gold piece is an exceptionally rare double-regulated coin bearing the mark of the celebrated Ephraim Brasher. It was first regulated by the Royalist firm of F&G in 1783 (occupied NY) and then re-regulated after the American Revolution by Brasher in 1795.The host coin is a 1739 one peca from Portugal made at the Lisbon Mint.

It is also known as a 6400 Reis or Half Joe. It shows light overall wear more in keeping with an AU 50 grade than with the VF35 grade assigned by NGC. The coin is plugged EB for Ephraim Brasher and F&G for Lewis Feuter and a partner whose initial was G. The F&G plug is at the center of the reverse. The hallmark on the plug is strongly impressed, covering the entire plug. On the obverse the Brasher hallmark is oval shaped and is the same mark used on the famous doubloons. It is placed horizontally near the base of the bust. Brasher also neatly clipped the coin horizontally below the date. The plug and the clip on the coin done by Brasher regulated its value at $8.00. The weight is correct for the 1784 New York 9 dwt. standard used at the time by the Bank of New York, and hence by Brasher.

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 coins obverse shows a right facing portrait of King John V of Portugal, who was also known as Fidelissimus (in Portuguese Joao V) the Magnanimous, king of Portugal and the Algarves. He reigned from 1706 to 1750. Inscribed around the portrait are his name and title with the date below. The reverse shows the crowned coat of arms.

Lewis Fueter and unknown partner G was an old Tory firm that regulated coinage in occupied New York during the Revolutionary War. Edward Roehrs wrote a brief biography of Fueter in the December 2005 issue of The Numismatist. Fueters father, Daniel, was a well known silversmith in New York who worked for the British making peace medals. Father and son worked together in 1769, but the son soon began running the business alone. According to Roehrs, Lewis Fueter died in Jamaica in 1784 at the age of 38, just months after the end of the British occupation New York. He had left New York for Halifax, like many Loyalist evacuees, before ending up in Jamaica and meeting his early death.

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. 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. Brashers stamp on a coin was taken as proof that the item was of the proper weight and fineness as seen on the present coin.

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.

In numismatic circles, Brasher is probably most famous for a few pattern gold doubloons. One dated 1742 but made in 1786 is called the Lima Style. It has his hallmark in the center of the reverse. The second type, the New York gold doubloon of 1787, shows an eagle on one side and the arms of New York on the other. On one of the coins, the EB hallmark is on the eagles breast and the other it is on its right wing. Researchers are not certain why Brasher produced these patterns.

The present coin is unique. In a national auction on August 12, 2010 it was uncertified and listed as an XF. Subsequently it was submitted to NGC where it was conservatively graded VF35.