Term
Doubloon
also known as Spanish doubloon
Etymology
From Spanish dobl\xC3\xB3n, from doble ("double"), augmentative, originally meaning a coin worth double the gold pistole (i.e., two escudos).
Definition
The Spanish gold coin of two escudos in its original 16th-century usage, and of eight escudos (approximately 27 grams of gold, about 22-carat fineness) in its later 17th and 18th-century usage. The doubloon was the highest-denomination coin in regular circulation in the Spanish Americas and was the principal unit of account in which large pirate prize-shares were reckoned. The Roberts Sagrada Família prize-take of approximately 40,000 gold moidores was an unusual coinage because the captured vessel was Portuguese; the more typical Caribbean prize was paid out in pieces of eight, doubloons, and bar silver.
