fugio and chain stories?

mhammerman

I see this chain/circles design repeated and evolving and I assume it is about the colonies being linked together. The coins are beautiful so it would be interesting to know if a board member can give a quick story about how this motif came to be and what the significance was for the colonies. I see both individual State issues and National issues but it seems confusing. Any specialists here that can enlighten us?

BillJones

I can take it back as far as 1776 for you.

That year before the Declaration of Independence was signed the Continental Congress passed the third resolution that authorized additional Continental Currency. The design that was used for the fractional pieces that were worth less than a dollar featured a unique design. It consisted of a continuous interlocking circle of 13 rings that had the names of each of the states on them. Later when the Continental Dollar coins were issued the same design appeared on the reverse of that piece.

Years later when the design with the names of the states on the rings was considered, and few pattern pieces were struck. But when the regular production coins were struck, the design was simplified to only include the rings without the state names.

1789, at George Washington’s first inauguration, clothing buttons with the design were worn by some of those who were present. Today these pieces are viewed as the earliest United States political items. They are very popular collectors’ items today and sell for several thousand dollars when the shank on the back of the button is intact.

Finally as you know the 1793 Chain Cents were the first and last coins to feature the design. Despite the fact that it had appeared on a number of items in the past, the editorialists of the time didn’t like it and it was soon replaced.

Conder101

Good assumption. The fugio design was created at least in part by Benjamin Franklin and the links were intended to represent the linking together of the individual colonies into one strong confederation. Early examples even had a states name on each of the links. At first the image had 13 links for the colonies that were in rebellion against Britain (Vermont, the 14th colony, was neutral). By the time of the chain cent Vermont and Kentucky had joined the union so fifteen links appear on the cent.

mhammerman

Excellent, what a great resource this board is. That explains the 13 rings (links) and the 15 links as well as the names of the colonies (states) and the omission of the names. Thanks so much!!!

Mike

mhammerman

One last question...Is that a sundial or a masons symbol and if it is a sundial, is there a story here?

Conder101

It is a sundial. In that era a popular pastime was rebuses, the use of pictures and words or partial words to create a thought or expression. (There used to be a popular TV game show that some of the old times here might remember that used this concept, Concentration.)

In these games a sundial was often used to indicate "time" (After all they didn't have watches). The word Fugio seen on the image is latin meaning "I fly"so the though being expressed by the design would be "Time flies so mind your business" meaning the same thing as the expresion "Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today!" It was meant to encourage industriousness and to discourage procrastination. (Mind your business was to be taken literally, it did not have the meaning "Mind your own #&#% business!".)