MIND YOUR BUSINESS

ms70

That phrase should be put on our coinage as it was on the Fugio Cent. It's probably the most valuable piece of advice that could be used on a wide-spread basis.

Post a Fugio Cent if you have one.

Aspie_Rocco

An almost fugio

BillJones

"Mind your business" on the Fugio Cents did not have the modern meaning. The phrase, which came from Benjamin Franklin, met “work hard at your business or occupation and succeed.”

The Fugio Cents were struck on a device called a drop press. As the name implies, it is a press that employs raising the striking die above the anvil die and dropping it on the planchet. If you would like to see a drop press in action, go to the Universal Orlando theme park and check out one of the shops in the Islands of Adventure, Atlantis area. If you are walking toward the Harry Potter area there is a side street on the right where a token maker strikes pieces to order with a number of different dies. He is using a drop press.

Here are my two Fugio Cents. This first one is Newman variety 8-X, which was part of the Bank of New York hoard. There may have been several thousand Mint State coins in this group when it began as apart of the assets of the Bank of New York. Over the years, the bank gave them out to favored customers. By the time collectors got a chance to run through it in the late 1940s, there were about 1,200 coins left. This coin is a Mint State piece with the usual planchet fissures.

Here is my second piece, the more common of the two Club Rays variety pieces. This coin is quite a bit scarcer than the previous one. NGC graded this one VF-35 years ago.

JBK

Thx for the history. I was wondering about the meaning and suspected it might had been in a different context.

DCW

Not mine, but the prettiest one I've seen:

BillJones

@DCW said:
Not mine, but the prettiest one I've seen:

That's nice, but it's not one of the original, genuine Fugio Cents. It is one of the "New Haven Restrikeds." From what I've read this was a project of C. Willies Betts, who wrote a popular book on 19th century medals.

The way you can tell it is by the thin rings on the reverse. The real Fugio cents have "fat rings."

jedm

This is mine and definitely not the prettiest, but I like it.

Edited to add: "Poor Richard: The Almanacs for the Years 1733-1758" is a great source of material upon which to ponder.

ms70

Great write-up Bill! That is a short and excellent education right there especially for those who never heard of a drop-press.

Zoins

@DCW That's the prettiest replica I've seen as well. These were done in gold, silver, brass and copper. I haven't run across a gold one yet.

As @BillJones mentions, that is not an original. The latest thinking I've seen is that these were done by Scovill Manufacturing in Waterbury, Connecticut at the request of Charles I. Bushnell, so they seem to be more correctly known as Bushnell, Scovill, or Waterbury pieces. Scovill are still in business:

http://www.scovill.com/about-us/history/

Here's some information on these from the University of Notre Dame Libraries' Department of Special Collections' Coin and Currency Collections, emphasis mine.

https://coins.nd.edu/colcoin/colcoinintros/Fugio.intro.html

Some Fugio dies were produced in the 1850's probably at the Scovill mint in Waterbury, Connecticut and probably at the request of the numismatist and lawyer, Charles I. Bushnell. The Scovill Manufacturing Company had been a major supplier of Hard Times Tokens as well as a producer of various buttons and small metal objects. Their is no evidence as to the origin of the Fugio dies but it is known that Bushnell had the Scovill Company produce several fantasy colonial items for him in the 1850's. According to a notice in the American Journal of Numismatics from January of 1873 (on p. 72) three sets of Fugio dies were acquired by Horatio N. Rust in 1858, one die was acquired in Bridgeport and five others were from New Haven. These were, of course, the dies created at the Waterbury mint. It is not known if Rust was part of the deception or if he genuinely thought the dies were original Fugio dies. According to the journal notice Rust used these dies to strike off three to four hundred copies of the Fugio cent in copper as well as some in silver and gold at the Scovill mint in Waterbury. In the past these copies were incorrectly associated with some fantasy tokens created by the teenage C. Wyllys Betts in New Haven. It was thought Betts had located some original dies and used them to made some restrikes. From this mistaken attribution the Fugio copies have become known as the "New Haven Restrikes." However, they were minted in Waterbury, from new dies created in Waterbury. Thus they are not restrikes from the original dies, nor are they from New Haven! Related to this is an item thought to have been a pattern used in the creation of the Fugio hub. This is now considered to be a fantasy piece created by Bushnell in the 1850s.

Here's the TrueView. It's a top pop 1/0 at MS63+:

Catbert

Mine is in an AU50 PCGS slab. What attracted me to this coin, beyond owning a Fugio (I hope all coin collectors aspire to own one some day) is that the planchet is free of defects, the design is centered, and it has a nice even color.

Rittenhouse

@Zoins said:

Some Fugio dies were produced in the 1850's probably at the Scovill mint in Waterbury, Connecticut and probably at the request of the numismatist and lawyer, Charles I. Bushnell. The Scovill Manufacturing Company had been a major supplier of Hard Times Tokens as well as a producer of various buttons and small metal objects. Their is no evidence as to the origin of the Fugio dies but it is known that Bushnell had the Scovill Company produce several fantasy colonial items for him in the 1850's. According to a notice in the American Journal of Numismatics from January of 1873 (on p. 72) three sets of Fugio dies were acquired by Horatio N. Rust in 1858, one die was acquired in Bridgeport and five others were from New Haven. These were, of course, the dies created at the Waterbury mint. It is not known if Rust was part of the deception or if he genuinely thought the dies were original Fugio dies. According to the journal notice Rust used these dies to strike off three to four hundred copies of the Fugio cent in copper as well as some in silver and gold at the Scovill mint in Waterbury. In the past these copies were incorrectly associated with some fantasy tokens created by the teenage C. Wyllys Betts in New Haven. It was thought Betts had located some original dies and used them to made some restrikes. From this mistaken attribution the Fugio copies have become known as the "New Haven Restrikes." However, they were minted in Waterbury, from new dies created in Waterbury. Thus they are not restrikes from the original dies, nor are they from New Haven! Related to this is an item thought to have been a pattern used in the creation of the Fugio hub. This is now considered to be a fantasy piece created by Bushnell in the 1850s.

Talk about interesting coincidences, I just got off the phone with a close friend who happens to be studying these pieces with another noted colonial specialist. They’ve made some incredible discoveries and, without stealing their thunder, the story is about to change radically. Those who collect Fugios will no doubt find the upcoming article fascinating.

DCW

@Rittenhouse said:
Talk about interesting coincidences, I just got off the phone with a close friend who happens to be studying these pieces with another noted colonial specialist. They’ve made some incredible discoveries and, without stealing their thunder, the story is about to change radically. Those who collect Fugios will no doubt find the upcoming article fascinating.

Great, where should we be looking for the article?

Rittenhouse

Probably The Numismatist.

Barndog

the modern version might just say STFU. Would make a great challenge-coin type. Make them cheaply then hand them out as needed to people that need them

Swampboy

"Mind your business" on the Fugio Cents did not have the modern meaning. The phrase, which came from Benjamin Franklin, met “work hard at your business or occupation and succeed.”

What @BillJones said
I agree

Ben Franklin was quite the adviser

jmski52

the modern version might just say STFU. Would make a great challenge-coin type. Make them cheaply then hand them out as needed to people that need them

The modern interpretation would be "mind your own business" and I agree with you. Sounds like a great D. Carr project.

3keepSECRETif2rDEAD

kaz

Fugios are great, and the symbolism and legends are timeless. My blunt rays (obv only)

and one with the "peeking sun" die clash

PerryHall

Thanks for the many nice Fugio cents pictured here. "FUGIO" is Latin for "I fly" while the sun dial represents time so the entire message is "Time flies so mind your business."

Regulated

My only Fugio (and the most recent addition to my collection) - as it's a hub trial for the American Congress Pattern, "MIND YOUR BUSINESS" doesn't appear...

Regulated

If anyone here wants a fantastic read, grab Chris McDowell's book about Abel Buell. Buell was responsible for making the Fugios, but was also a genius who made the first English-language type foundry in North America, printed the first map of the United States, and established the first real cotton mills in the US.

It's worth pointing out that the hubbing tech that Buell utilized for the dies used to strike these coins was decades ahead of its time.

kaz

..and you can spend the night in his house! google Abel Buell Home B&B

thefinn

@Barndog said:
the modern version might just say STFU. Would make a great challenge-coin type. Make them cheaply then hand them out as needed to people that need them

Yea, enameled medals made in China (because we want them cheap) to be handed out by patriotic police officers and military members.

Zoins

@FSF said:
Isn't the modern expression, "Mind your own business!"

They have two different meanings. I think "Mind your business" is still appropriate for business owners and entrepreneurs.

indeetlib

Here's a double MIND YOUR BUSINESS to make up for Regulated's...

ricko

Twice, in my many years of collecting, I had decided to get a Fugio cent...Both times I became sidetracked with another project (one was my CC Morgan set, do not remember the other)... I guess I should try again. Without coin shows though, it will be a tad more problematic. Cheers, RickO

boiler78

A mind your business "type set"

Regulated

I guess the type set doesn't include European medals...

Rittenhouse

@Regulated said:
I guess the type set doesn't include European medals...

Now be nice.

Regulated

I'm incapable.

CaptHenway

@Regulated said:
My only Fugio (and the most recent addition to my collection) - as it's a hub trial for the American Congress Pattern, "MIND YOUR BUSINESS" doesn't appear...

Show off!

I'm surprised that the denticles were on the hub that early.

Regulated

He was hubbing denticles on Connecticuts as well. When you start really looking at the Fugios, you realize that Buell had figured out the artistic possibilities inherent in the hubbing process: he has design elements both incuse and in relief on the pieces, which is surely a first in North America.

Studying the hub trial and various Fugios lately has been fascinating...

Baley

I've wanted one for decades, finally found this example for my early US type set

kranky

Love boiler78's MYB type set! I have the cent and two of the currency pieces, but nowhere near as nice as those.

@Regulated said:
If anyone here wants a fantastic read, grab Chris McDowell's book about Abel Buell. Buell was responsible for making the Fugios, but was also a genius who made the first English-language type foundry in North America, printed the first map of the United States, and established the first real cotton mills in the US.

It's worth pointing out that the hubbing tech that Buell utilized for the dies used to strike these coins was decades ahead of its time.

Here's a link to an old auction of Buell's 1784 map. Page has tools to enlarge/zoom. Pretty cool.