Fugio

The Fugio Cent is a relic from the 18th century colonial days of the United States.

1. Fugio Cents For Sale
2. Fugio 15

Fugio translation in Latin-English dictionary. En This speech was not disagreeable to the Gauls, principally, because he himself was not disheartened by receiving so severe a loss, and had not concealed himself, nor shunned the eyes of the people: and he was believed to possess greater foresight and sounder judgment than the rest, because, when the affair was undecided, he had.

Authorization for the coinage was approved by congress on April 21, 1787. The coins however were not minted until July of 1787 when the design could be finalized.

Mr. James Jarvis was contracted to produce 3 hundred tons of copper coins, with one side to depict 13 circles, all linked. Then a smaller circle in the center containing the words, United States, wrapping around the words, We Are One.

On the other side of the proposed coins there was a sun dial with a meridian sun and the word Fugio, meaning time flies. This side also contained the date, as well as the words mind your business.

The dies for this endeavor were produced by Abel Buell. He resided in New Haven, Connecticut and the coins were struck in this town. There is a possibility that Fugio Cents were also coined elsewhere, but documentation is sketchy at best.

Benjamin Franklin is said to have contributed the designs for this coin. This fact has caused the collector base for this cent to nickname the coin the Franklin Cent.

• The Fugio cent, a penny authorized by Congress in 1787 and reportedly designed by Benjamin Franklin, contained the mottos 'Mind Your Business' and 'We Are One'-a reference to the 13 colonies. Myths debunked: religious right activists love to spread false information about the separation of church and state. Here are ten rebuttals.
• Fugio is an open visual programming system for creating digital art, learning programming, and making cool stuff with hardware such as the Oculus Rift, Kinect, Arduino, Leap Motion, and any MIDI, OSC, TUIO, or DMX enabled thing.
• Comments: This is the only fugio variety with a cross shaped ornament after the date rather than the usual cinquefoil design. Also, the legend in exergue, 'MIND YOUR BUSINESS' was hand engraved into the die rather than punched, note the detail within the letters and the replacement of the normal ornament found between the words with a simple line.

It is written in mint history that copper for this mintage came from barrel straps, that were wrapped around the powder kegs, the United States had received from France. These were melted down and coin planchets, or slugs, were produced.

There are several variations to the lettering, as different hand cut dies were employed at the time and each die was unique. United States was reversed on one variety to States United.

One die has been collected extensively and is popular with error collectors. This coin shows a horizontal 1 in the date, with a vertical 1 cut over it. Collectors flock to this type of die error and it does carry a very nice premium, if you happen to have the right one.

Rays surrounding the sun in the sun dial also have some differences between dies. This has created several more varieties. Some have rounded ends and some have clubbed ends. There was also a thin elongated ray variety and a club shaped fatter one.

All of these different dies are collected by number today and all are rare. Collectors have now found some issues impossible to collect. For a coin with only one year of production, this issue surely has a disproportionately large collector base.

One of the reasons for this is the fact that this was the first official coinage of the United States of America. A country had been born and they needed coins for commerce.

Fugio Cents For Sale

A re strike of this coin, was supposedly done in New Haven, Connecticut, near where the originals were struck. 3 dies were found by a young 14 year old boy. His name was C. Wyllys Betts and was apparently playing in the old building when he located the dies.

Three sets of dies were found; however it is strongly believed that the re-strikes that exist are from 1860, when copy dies were produced. The re-strikes are as highly priced as some original varieties and may have a higher rarity.

Colonial coins, minted by the thirteen individual states, had been circulating throughout the USA and they joined foreign coins and that was it. There was a desperate need at the time for a national circulating coinage for the country.

The barter system was used more often then money. The arrival of an official United States coin was a welcome sight, for the people doing the business of the day.

Good reading on the Fugio series of strikes would be Alan Kessler's 'The Fugio Cents' Published in 1976 and 'Studies On Money In Early America' American Numismatic Society also 1976, although these two editions can be hard, or expensive, to buy.

This is the popular early federal coinage designed by Benjamin Franklin and so named for the word FUGIO ('I fly'). The copper coin was to circulate with the value of one cent, but no denomination is stated on the coin. It is curious that modern American politics has changed dramatically since 1787. 'Mind Your Business' counters today's 'Political Correctness,' and 'We Are One' counters today's 'Strength Through Diversity.'
Evaluating these coins is a bit beyond this simple CoinQuest forum. There are several different varieties of the Fugio copper, and values change with variety. For a good run-down on varieties with value estimates, see this page at CoinAuctionHelp. Further, the coin has been re-struck and reproduced several times, with plenty of un-marked fakes around. You can view a thorough treatment of fugio cents at the Department of Special Collections, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, including a description of restrikes. Authentication by PCGS, NGC, ICG, or ANACS is strongly recommended for any fugio copper.
With the qualifiers of the previous paragraph, we give below some approximate average data:
FUGIO CENT: AVERAGE VALUES FOR THE COMMON VARIETIES
worn: $200 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $1000
well preserved: $3000
FUGIO CENT: UNITED ABOVE, STATES BELOW VARIETY
worn: $600 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $7000
well preserved: $10000
FUGIO CENT: CLUB RAYS WITH CONCAVE ENDS VARIETY
worn: $1000 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated: $15000
well preserved: $28000
The values above are catalog values. Read our Terminology page to convert these catalog values to actual buy and sell values.
For a little more insight into value, consider the four coins shown in the graphic below, labeled (A), (B), (C), and (D).

The (A) coin is a superb specimen of a common variety piece sold by Bruun Rasmussen in Denmark for 1700 euros (about $1900 US dollars) during a 2006 auction. The coin would probably sell for $2500 today. CoinQuest thanks Bruun Rasmussen for use of their coin photo.
The (B) coin is at the other end of the spectrum. It is a common variety (club rays with rounded ends) which sold for $175 during a 2009 auction.
The (C) and (D) coins are not genuine. (C) is a modern legal reproduction of a fugio cent which is worth about $10. What makes (C) legal is the word COPY stamped into the design (on the back, not shown). The (D) coin is a fake without the word COPY inscribed. Such fakes are found on auction sites around the Internet. They usually sell for $5 to $10.

Fugio 15