2017-06-12 Mon

The Spink USA will offer the 1776 Continental Currency dollar in pewter during its June 19 and 20 auction.

Despite years of research, no authorization for the coin has ever been found. From the inscriptions, the Continental Congress approved their production and are linked in design to the Continental Currency notes, which were authorised and issued into circulation.

However, an uncertainty surrounds the coins since they have no denominational markings. Some speculate whether they were intended as cents. Versions are known in pewter, brass, and silver, struck from pairings of five obverse dies and four reverse dies.

The obverse and reverse designs are related not only to the contemporary Continental Currency notes but also to the later 1787 Fugio cents. The general designs are largely attributed to polyglot Benjamin Franklin, who was involved in the production of early American paper money printing and design.

The obverse bears a sundial underneath the rays of the sun, with the Latin word FUGIO to the upper letter and MIND YOUR BUSINESS below. The main devices are surrounded by two bluntly cut circles, with the sundial inside the inner circle and FUGIO and the sun positioned between the circles.

Between the two circles is the engraver’s “signature”: EG FECIT. The engraver has been identified as Elisha Gallaudet, the engraver of the plates for the Feb. 17, 1776, Continental Currency notes. “Fecit” is Latin for “made it,” the whole meaning “Elisha Gallaudet made it.”

The reverse bears a 13-linked chain, with the name of one of the 13 rebelling states. At the center is WE ARE ONE, attesting to the links between the 13 states, with AMERICAN CONGRESS positioned on either side of the center motto.

The cataloger for Spink states – the continental currency pieces are mysterious as little documentation is available related to its origin and use.

The cataloger adds that Spink would argue that the rare silver pieces are patterns, that the brass pieces are pattern pennies, and the pewter pieces are coins.

A cataloger for a Silver Continental Dollar said although the mintage figures are not known, but the pewter coins appear to be produced in substantial numbers. However, many coins were melted as Benjamin Franklin noticed that pewter was needed for the canteens used by soldiers in the Continental Army.

The most reasonable explanation for the brass examples is that they represent dies trials.

Since the silver coins are full of weight and value, the precious metal coinage was contemplated but the Continental Congress was short of funds and had no reliable source of supply for silver.

Eric P. Newman along with Don Taxay, Walter Breen, Philip Mossman, and Michael Hodder were the chief researchers of the Continental Currency coinage. They all were mesmerised by its mysterious origins.

Newman’s 1952 monograph 1776 Continental Currency Coinage and Varieties of the Fugio Cent is believed to be the major work on the topic, both Continental Currency dollars and Fugio cents. The piece in the Spink auction is catalogued as Newman 3-D, struck from a specific die.

Professional Coin Grading Service has graded the piece in the Spink auction Mint State 63. It has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000.

The same 3-D die marriage was used to strike at least two versions in silver.

One was offered by Heritage Auctions in May 2014 in the fourth sale from the Eric P. Newman Collection. That silver example, graded Mint State 63 by Numismatic Gua­ranty Corp was sold for $1,410,000 in that auction.