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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 3436981, member: 101855"]There was a question concerning a copy of the Continential Dollar in the "What's it worth?" forum. Since there was some confusion over the Continential Dollar and the Fugio Cent, which share design elements, I've decided to post this article here.   In the late 1780s a glut of circulating, light weight copper coins was damaging the fragile United States economy. Some of these coppers were legitimate pieces that several states were issuing under the provisions of the Articles of Confederation. Under that form of government, which preceded the U.S. Constitution, each state was allowed to establish their own monetary system and issue money to support it. There were also foreign coins in circulation, which had been the standard practice since the colonial period.   The worst problem was a growing number of underweight counterfeit copper coins which almost all bore a resemblance to the British half penny. Several nefarious minters were producing these coins, and one source, Machin’s Mills, which was located in Newburgh, New York, was producing both legitimate and counterfeit coins. In an effort to stabilize the situation, Congress authorized a national coinage which came to be known as the Fugio cent. A Machin's Mills counterfeit copper [ATTACH=full]912559[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]912560[/ATTACH]   The new coin was to have been a “cent” with a value of 1/100 of a Spanish Milled Dollar. Since the Confederation Government did not have a national mint or the funds to establish one, a contract was offered to a private mint to make the coins. The winner of that contract was James Jarvis, who got a leg up on the competition by paying a bribe to the secretary of the treasury.   Although Jarvis had produced the Connecticut cents and was experienced in coin making, he did not have enough capital to complete the contract. Jarvis borrowed copper from the government to get started and left for Europe to find additional financing. A Connecticut Copper [ATTACH=full]912561[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]912562[/ATTACH]   During Jarvis’ fund raising efforts, his company produced about 400,000 cents. The design was similar to the Continental dollar, which had been issued during the Revolutionary War. The obverse featured a sundial, the date, the word “Fugio” and the phrase, “Mind your business.” These words, which have been attributed to Benjamin Franklin, met, “Times flies, work hard and make a success of your business.” The reverse of the coin had a continuous chain of 13 interlocked links and the motto “United States … We are one,” in the center. This design represented a call for unity among the 13 states that were then loosely held together under The Articles of Confederation. A Fugio Cent [ATTACH=full]912564[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]912565[/ATTACH]   Ultimately Jarvis was unable to get European investors to fund his project, and he defaulted on his contract. Once his employees learned what was happening they fled the scene in order to avoid possible prosecutions. Most notable among them was die maker Abel Buell who had once been convicted of counterfeiting. Since his punishment had been the clipping of one of his ears, the branding a “C” on his forehead and incarceration, he wanted no further interactions with the 18th century justice system.   Upon examining the Fugio cents that Buell and his co-workers had made, government officials discovered that the coins did not weigh enough to qualify as “cents” which were worth 1/100 of the dollar. Instead they would have to trade as “coppers,” which would be whatever the market would bear.   In effort to recover its losses, government officials sold the coins to a speculator, Rufus King, who planned to circulate the coins at a profit. When King defaulted on his payment for the coins, he was sent to debtor’s prison.   Ultimately a large number of the Fugio cents do go into circulation, and the coin is somewhat common in used condition. There are also a number of Mint State examples known, mostly from a hoard of the coins that were stored in the vaults of the Bank of New York in Manhattan. Over the years the bank gave some coins to favored customers. Finally in the late 1940s a group of numismatists were allowed to examine the remaining pieces.   Today the Fugio cent is, in a way, a collector’s bargain. Compared to the more famous 1793 Chain cent, the prices are almost modest. The 2010 edition of the Red Book lists the most common variety from $300 in VG to $4,500 in MintState. A comparable Chain cent would sell from $13,000 in VG to several hundred thousand dollars in Mint State.[/QUOTE]

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