The doubloon (from Spanish doblón, or "double", i.e. double escudo) was a two-escudo gold coin worth approximately $4 (four Spanish dollars) or 32 reales,[1] and weighing 6.766 grams (0.218 troy ounce) of 22-karat gold (or 0.917 fine; hence 6.2 g fine gold).[2][3] Doubloons were minted in Spain and the viceroyalties of New Spain, Peru, and New Granada (modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela). As the Spanish escudo succeeded the heavier gold excelente (or ducado, ducat; 3.1 g vs 3.48 g fine gold) 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 piracy.[4]
- ^ "Doubloon". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-20. Retrieved 2015-08-31.
- ^ "Spanish Gold". coins.nd.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
- ^ Kelly, Patrick (1821). 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 ... Lackington.
- ^ "What Are Gold Doubloons?". APMEX. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2021.