Colonial-era coin at the center of lawsuit

FROM:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,5355676.story

Colonial-era coin at the center of lawsuit

Plaintiff says the owners of a Brasher Doubloon reneged
on a deal to pay him for information that he says shows
the coin was the first made under the new U.S.
government -- which would boost its value.

By Dana Parsons
August 18, 2009
Los Angeles Times

The Brasher Doubloon is steeped in historic reverence
and mystique. It dates to Colonial America and the
dawning of the new federal government, when Spanish
gold doubloons circulated alongside other foreign
gold and silver as part of New World commerce.

(Image Of Coin)
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-08/48705586.jpg
One side of the rare Brasher Doubloon
features an eagle with wings spread,
holding an olive branch in one talon
and arrows of war in the other. Of the
seven existing coins, this is the only
one that has "EB" -- the artist's
initials -- stamped on the eagle's
shield. (Heritage Auctions / August 17, 2009)

(Image Of Landscape Side Of Coin)
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-08/48705585.jpg
One side of the Brasher Doubloon features
a sun setting behind mountains and the sea.
Of the seven nearly identical coins, six
have "EB" stamped on this side.

The coin takes its name from Ephraim Brasher, a
respected New York City gold- and silversmith who
lived next door to George Washington. In 1787,
Brasher began making gold coins, presumably to be
used as currency for the soon-to-be-formed republic.

Seven of them remain and are sanctified as the first
truly American gold coins. That fact, along with
their distinctively American design and Brasher's
friendship with Washington, attached a permanent
legacy to the coins.

The coins are nearly identical, but one of them is
first among equals. And it is that coin, worth $15
when Washington was president but most recently
sold for nearly $3 million, that is at the heart of
a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court.
Rare coin researcher William Swoger says he told
the coin's owners that he had "specialized
information" about the coin and that they reneged
on finalizing a contract to pay him in exchange for
the information.

Orange County coin dealer Steven Contursi and his
Northern California partner, Donald Kagin, teamed
up to buy the Brasher Doubloon in 2005 for $2.99
million, then the second-highest price ever paid
for an American coin. Swoger's lawsuit alleges
that he approached Kagin and Contursi several
months ago and told them the coin was worth much
more than they realized.

The key, he told them, is that the coin wasn't the
first of the seven struck by Brasher beginning in
1787. Contrary to the prevailing view in numismatic
circles, Swoger says it was the last, and probably
not struck until 1793.

That later date is crucial, Swoger says, because
this coin was fractionally heavier than the others
and made to conform to a 1793 act of Congress that
established weight standards for gold coins in the
new republic. The other six coins are of identical
weight and predate the formation of the new
government, he says.

Kagin and Contursi "knew they had a unique coin,"
says Richard Herman, a Newport Beach attorney who
is representing Swoger. "They knew it was very
valuable, very rare. But they thought it was the
first one [in the series] and not the last one.
Turns out that makes all the difference in the
world. One's a Colonial coin made by a jeweler,
and it's a very nice coin, but the other is the
first coin made for circulation under a law of
the United States. That's heavy-duty."

One side of the coin shows an eagle with wings
spread. Thirteen stars representing the original
colonies surround its head, and its talons hold
olive branches and the arrows of war. On six of
the coins, Brasher's "EB" stamp appears on the
eagle's wing. On Kagin and Contursi's coin, the
"EB" stamp appears on a shield on the eagle's
breast -- a unique design element that
distinguishes it from the others and is part of
the reason many numismatists call it America's
most treasured coin.

One theory is that Brasher made the change for
purely aesthetic reasons. But Swoger contends
that, as the last coin in the series and made
to conform to the congressional act, Brasher
put it there to distinguish it from its
predecessors.

According to the lawsuit, Swoger informed the
owners that he had discovered information that
would make their coin much more valuable and
asked for a $500,000 fee. They countered with
$250,000, the suit alleges, and then asked for
a meeting at which Swoger would disclose the
information.

Swoger met with Kagin, explained his thesis
and was given a gold coin valued at $35,000
as a down payment, the suit alleges. Swoger
alleges Kagin said he and Contursi would
prepare a contract but never did. Swoger is
suing for millions of dollars in damages.

On the advice of their attorney, Contursi and
Kagin declined to discuss the matter. But
Contursi, the president of Rare Coin
Wholesalers in Dana Point and a two-thirds
owner of the coin, wrote in an e-mail:

"I greatly regret that Mr. Swoger has chosen
to sue me and my partner. We never sought
anything from Mr. Swoger regarding the
Brasher Doubloon and never benefited in any
way from any information he volunteered to
us. The lawsuit is utterly frivolous, and I
urge him to withdraw it."

Armen Vartian, an attorney representing the
coin's owners, said, "I don't think the
complaint will survive a motion to dismiss."

In an interview, Swoger, who is 65 and lives
in Lake Odessa, Mich., said he is confident
he can prove the coin was the last in the
series and not the first. He declined to
provide details.

His attorney said an ad in a 1790s New York
newspaper spurred Swoger's research about the
sequencing of the doubloons. Swoger
acknowledged that but said learning the exact
weight of the historic doubloon -- that it was
slightly heavier than the others in the
set -- was what led him to conclude it was
struck after the others and linked to the
congressional act.

"Logic takes me right there," he said.

Asked if he'd been nervous about disclosing his
information to Kagin without a contract, Swoger
said, "Yes, I was, but how can they buy a pig
in a poke? So, it was a necessary step."

Kagin subsequently said they weren't going to
use his information and felt no need for further
payment, Swoger said. "Whether they use it or
not, I delivered it," he said. "They know it
and now other people are going to know it.
They can't give it back to me."

The lawsuit alleges that Swoger's theory would
elevate the coin's value to $10 million.

"If I'm wrong and they can prove me wrong,"
Swoger said, "they owe me no money for the
information. If my information is correct, it
gives much more importance to Ephraim Brasher
himself and his other gold coins, because it
gives him a longevity that was not known
before."

The lawsuit is an uncommon event in the world
of rare-coin collecting, but there's no doubt
that the Brasher Doubloon is fertile territory
for intrigue.

"There's still quite a bit that's unknown about
these coins," said Beth Deisher, editor of Coin
World magazine, in a phone interview from her
office in Sidney, Ohio.

The first "official" U.S. coin wasn't produced
until 1793, she said. The country never
authorized a $15 denomination, but that doesn't
mean that a coin containing that precise gold
value wouldn't be legal tender, she said.

Coin World will report on the lawsuit this week,
but Deisher declined to express an opinion on it.
Swoger has written for her magazine and is
respected for his research in the coin-collecting
world, she said. He has not published any
documentation for his theory about the Brasher
Doubloon.

And if Swoger's theory is correct?

"It would elevate the coin's historical importance,"
Deisher said. "Whether that translates to value is
something that would have to be determined by the
marketplace."





...

On Aug 18, 1:25*pm, "Arizona Coin Collector"
wrote:
FROM:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...it18-2009aug18,...
"It would elevate the coin's historical importance,"
Deisher said. "Whether that translates to value is
something that would have to be determined by the
marketplace."

Just this much adds to the coin's historicity, and to the value.

Who now owns the Cloverleaf cent that was the object of a wrestling
match between Edward Frossard and Lyman Lowe at the Parmelee Sale?
See Geroge Frederic Kolbe's Sale #104, Lot 763
http://www.numislit.com/Sale%20104/Sale%20104.pdf

From the same catalog, another catalog for sale:
Lot 737 is an Elliot Woodward catalog with an erroneous description of
an aureus. Apparently. Ed Frossard bought the coin and knew it to be
a Becker forgery.
(1881. No ANA Dealer Code of Ethics (ahem).)

Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
History you can hold in your hand...