The Continental Currency dollar coin (also known as Continental dollar coin, Fugio dollar, or Franklin dollar) was the first

pattern coin A pattern coin is a coin which has not been approved for release, but produced to evaluate a proposed coin design. They are often off-metal strike (using metals of lower value to test out the dies), to proof standard or piedforts. Many coin col ...

struck for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The coins, which were designed by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, were minted in 1776 and examples were made on

pewter Pewter () is a malleable metal alloy consisting of tin (85–99%), antimony (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver. Copper and antimony (and in antiquity lead) act as hardeners, but lead may be used in lower grades ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

, and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

planchets.

History

The United States started issuing its own banknotes in 1776 after the start of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and the signing of the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

denominated in Continental Currency. While no legislation authorizing a dollar coin has been discovered, no resolutions from July 22, 1776 through September 26, 1778 mentioned the one-dollar banknote, suggesting that it was to have been replaced by a coin.

designed both sides of the coin. The obverse features the Sun shining sunlight on a sundial, the Latin motto "Fugio" (''I flee/fly''), and "Mind your business", a

rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

meaning "time flies, so mind your business". The reverse features 13 chain links representing a plea for the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th cent ...

to remain united.

Controversy over coin status

An article in the January 2018 issue of ''

The Numismatist ''The Numismatist'' (formerly ''Numismatist'') is the monthly publication of the American Numismatic Association. ''The Numismatist'' contains articles written on such topics as coins, tokens, medals, paper money, and stock certificates. All mem ...

'' argued that the Continental Currency dollar coin may not have been a coin at all, but a token produced in Great Britain as a souvenir. The article cited the fact that there is no contemporary record of the pieces having been commissioned by the Continental Congress or in the anywhere in the colonies until long after the revolution.

Production

Elisha Gallaudet engraved the coin dies, according to numismatist Eric P. Newman. An estimated 6,000 coins were minted, probably in New York. Today, about a hundred dollars survive, struck in pewter. Historians surmise that much of the original mintage was melted due to wartime demand for the alloy. Only a few silver examples are known to exist. This composition was most likely standard for circulation. However, the idea of a silver dollar might have been scrapped, as the United States had no reliable supply of silver during the war. Several brass trial strikings are also known.

Varieties

As with other early United States coinage, the dies for the Continental dollar coin were hand-punched, meaning no two dies were the same. One of the known obverse varieties was accidentally made with "CURRENCY" misspelled "CURENCY". Another variety, known as the "Ornamented Date", was also made with a misspelled "CURRENCY", this time as "CURRENCEY". The blundered die was corrected by punching a "Y" over the "E" and an ornamental figure was engraved over the original "Y".

Later use of the design

The 1787 Fugio cent, the first officially circulated coin of the United States, incorporated many elements of the design of the Continental Currency coin. An adaption of the Continental Currency dollar coin appears on the reverse of the "Founding Father" variety of the 2006 Benjamin Franklin silver dollar.

References