1787 U.S. Colonial Issues G06BN

History

Coinage under the Articles of Confederation began with a resolution of the Continental Congress on April 21, 1787, which directed the Board of Treasury to contract for 300 tons of copper coin. Congress settled the devices and legends on July 7, 1787. The contract went to James Jarvis, a Connecticut coiner, and the design has long been attributed to Benjamin Franklin, though the attribution is traditional rather than established; the sundial and linked-ring motifs had already appeared on the 1776 Continental dollar pattern. The issue answered a practical problem, since counterfeit and lightweight coppers then circulating cost laborers and small merchants real money when those pieces were later taken only at a discount.

Details

No designer is assigned to the Fugio cents by PCGS, which lists the field as N/A across the series. The coins were struck in copper. No mintage figure exists for this die marriage, because Fugio cents are collected by die pairing and the contemporary delivery records were never broken out by die combination. PCGS places the coin in the U.S. Colonial Issues series under the Fugio Cents (1787) category, where the States United, 1 Over Horizontal 1 brown designation carries PCGS number 886.

Features

The obverse shows a sun with pointed rays above a sundial, with FUGIO at left, the date 1787 at right, and MIND YOUR BUSINESS on a label below. The reverse carries thirteen interlinked rings for the thirteen states around a central WE ARE ONE label, with STATES UNITED as the surrounding legend, the reading that separates this family from the more often seen UNITED STATES reverse. This is the Newman 10-T marriage, Whitman W-6705, rated Rarity-5, and the blunder that names it appears in the date, where the 1 was punched over a previously entered horizontal 1. The same blundered obverse also occurs with a UNITED STATES reverse as Newman 10-G, Whitman W-6700, a separate variety with its own PCGS number, 892, so the two should not be treated as interchangeable.

Notable facts

• On Newman 10-G, the reverse diagnostic is ARE positioned much closer to WE than to ONE, with the O open at the bottom.
• The peripheral reverse on Newman 10-T is typically weak from the strike rather than from wear, and late die states show heavy obverse clash marks along with a reverse crack running from the border at 7 o'clock across the ring to the label at the first S.
• The 1 over Horizontal 1 obverse receives its own listing in the Guide Book of United States Coins, which supports a premium over common Fugio varieties of similar absolute rarity.
• A small number of Fugio reverses read AMERICAN CONGRESS instead of either STATES UNITED or UNITED STATES.
• Counterstamped survivors exist, including a Newman 10-G bearing a Welles and Wilcox counterstamp graded XF45 that brought $1,920 at auction.