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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 25376142, member: 101855&quot;]I am giving a presentation at the Summer FUN show that covers the copper coins after the colonial period. My instructions were to begin with the Fugio Cent. Since a lot of you will not be able to attend, here are some words and pictures from the slides I have made. </p><p><br /></p><p>Slide 1</p><p><br /></p><p>During the period when the central government was under The Articles of Confederation (1793 to 1789) the economy was flooded with light weight copper coins, which included counterfeits and state coinage. </p><p><br /></p><p>Slide 2</p><p><br /></p><p>The Confederation Congress came up with the idea to authorize a cent that would be worth 1/100th of a Spanish Milled Dollar. Massachusetts had already issued a coin that bore the word &quot;Cent&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1624561[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>•James Jarvis owned the controlling interest in the Company for Coining Coppers which had produced the Connecticut coppers.</p><p><br /></p><p>•He obtained the contract to make the Fugio Cents by <u>paying a $10,000 bribe </u>to the Secretary of the Board of the Treasury, William Duer. The Board handed the monetary policy for Congress of the Confederation</p><p><br /></p><p>•Jarvis committed to striking 345 tons of copper coins (estimated contract a bit over 30 million coins, a major mintage commitment for the period.)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1624562[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>A Connecticut Copper</p><p><br /></p><p>•Jarvis set sail to Europe to find investors. He failed to attract any.</p><p><br /></p><p>•He failed to convince Matthew Boulton to produce 300 tons of copper coins. Boulton wanted the money up front.</p><p><br /></p><p>•Boulton offered to make 150 tons of copper coins and sell Jarvis the mint equipment to make coins in America.</p><p><br /></p><p>•Jarvis’ employees delivered only 8,968 pounds (1% of the Contract) which works out to about <u>400,000 coins.</u></p><p><br /></p><p>•Jarvis defaulted on his contract.</p><p><br /></p><p>•The coins were sold to a copper speculator, who could not pay his bill. He went to debtors’ prison.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1624563[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Soho works, Matthew Boulton&#039;s steam driven plant. His mint was located in a small building behind this facility. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>A Fugio Cent</b></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1624564[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>•Fugio “I fly” “Mind your business” Message: Time flies, work hard and be productive</p><p><br /></p><p>•“United States … We Are One” A plea for national unity</p><p><br /></p><p>•There are 55 or more die varieties of these coins. Relatively common in Mint State from the Bank of New York hoard. There were over 1,600 coins in the hoard in the late 1940s. The last time anyone checked it out, about 700 coins were remaining. </p><p><br /></p><p>This is most of what I will be saying.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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