Fugio cent

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The fugio cent

The fugio cent was the first official coin of the United States of America , issued by the initiative of Congress in 1787. The fugio cent also has the nicknames: Franklin cent, Mind-your-business-Cent, Sun-dial-Cent.

history

On April 21, 1787 , the United States Congress approved a design for a first official penny coin. Before that there were already individual states . The copper coin, which later became known as the Fugio cent, showed a sun on the obverse, which casts its rays on a sundial underneath, the inscription read: Fugio ( Latin , literally: “I flee”, meant: “ Time flies ”) and the year 1787. Below in the section: Mind your business (“ Think about your task ”). The reverse showed a thirteen-link chain as a symbol for the thirteen member states of the Union at that time; in the middle a circle, inside the writing: We are one ("We are one"). Both slogans are awarded to Benjamin Franklin . The same design with sun and sundial was also used for the "Continental Dollar" from 1776.

Since the adoption of the United States Constitution in 1789, gold and silver coins have featured the official motto of the United States: E pluribus unum .

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