Fugio cent

The Fugio cent, also known as the Franklin cent, is a copper coin dated 1787 and recognised as the first official circulating coinage of the United States. Authorised on 21 April 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation, the piece was produced in copper with a weight of 0.36 ounces (10 grams). It is generally regarded as the earliest coinage struck under federal authority, serving as a predecessor to the later copper cents produced by the United States Mint.

The iconography of the cent was based directly upon the 1776 Continental dollar, an earlier pattern coin and paper currency design. By some accounts, the issue was designed by Benjamin Franklin. After the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788, national coinage moved away from the themes present on the Fugio issue to adopt other national devices. In 1788, several thousand examples were placed in a keg in the basement of the Bank of New York and were later rediscovered in 1926, an assemblage that became known as the Bank of New York Hoard.

The obverse of the coin displays the sun shining down onto a sundial, accompanied by the Latin word "Fugio", referring to the flight of time, and the motto "Mind your business" situated at the base. The reverse depicts the central motto "We Are One" surrounded by a chain of thirteen interlocking rings, representing the original thirteen colonial states. Numerous die varieties of the issue are catalogued in specialist literature.