Collecting Fugio Cents
Rittenhouse
Posts: 672 ✭✭✭✭
As I'm sure most have figured out by now, I am a Fugio Fanatic. I went for the variety set and have 51 of the 52 collectible and semi-collectible varieties. But that is not the only way to form a truly great collection of the Fugio cents. So, for those who don't want to spend the great majority of their coin budget on a single type, here are some ideas for forming a very impressive collection.
- The Basic Design Type Set.
Club Rays “FUGIO” Obverse (3-D and 4-E, both are R3’s. Easily obtained in VG to AU)
Cross After Date Obverse (1-B, 1-L, 1-Z, 1-B is the most common. 1-CC is a pattern with three known.)
Eight-Pointed Stars Reverse (one variety, 15-Y. Fortunately it’s an R-2)
Four Cinquefoils Obverse (Most obverses are four cinquefoils. 8-B, 8-X, 12-X, and 13-X are very common)
Raised Rims Reverse (1-Z, 12-Z, 19-Z. 12-Z and 19-Z are the most common at R-5)
United States or States United Reverse ( 8-B, 12-M, 12-X, 13-X, 15-H, 16-N, and 21-I are common with the X reverse being the most common)
While you can "kill two birds with one stone" on several of these (for example, 3-D and 4-E Club Rays have the standard United States Reverse), I would recommend separate coins so you can show the reverse separately. I'd also recommend getting both a United States and States United piece - the diff is how the reverse was oriented when WE ARE ONE was hand-punched into the die.
The common Four Cinquefoils obverse with a United States or States United Reverse will run about 500 - 600 for a straight grade VG and 200 to 400 for a Details piece depending on the damage. F12 - 15 straight grade pieces will run 1000 - 1300 with "Dets coins" going a hundred or more less, depending on the damage.
The Cross After Date, Club Rays, Eight Pointed Stars, and Raised Rims are popular types and will run a bit more than the common Four Cinquefoils obverse with a United States or States United Reverse. Figure a premium of about 200 in VG and Fine.
Prices escalate rapidly in higher grades, with nice VFs around 1500 to 2K and nice XFs bringing 2100 to 3K depending on surfaces. As with all copper, nicer surfaces bring bigger money and dull, grainy, baggy, and off-color bring less. So, that "bargain XF" that only brought 1800, was not a nice piece.
- Advanced Design Type Set.
The Advanced Design Type Set includes all the Basic Design Type Set pieces plus:
1 Over Horizontal 1 (both STATES Left and UNITED Left reverses, 10-T and 10-G, respectively)
Concave Rays Obverse (2-C, the "FUCIO" obverse, is the only “affordable” one)
Cross After Date Obverse, all three reverse types (1-B, 1-L, 1-Z)
UNITED Above Reverse (11-A)
The money gets very serious here. First, even though the 11-A is a "Bank of New York hoard" piece, there are only about 28 known and most are AU to high Unc. An AU Dets coins went for 10K in 2025. There is one XF out there and one VF damaged coin. If the XF straight grads, I'd expect it to bring 10 - 11K and I'd expect 5 - 8k for the damaged piece depending on look.
You can get a low-grade 2-C for 2 to 4K. I paid 3k for my heavily worn G4. An upgrade is gonna run me 14 to 16K.
If you also go for the Concave Rays "FUGIO" obverse, the only really available one is 5-F and that's a tough R7 with 10 known. All of them pretty much all look crappy, with dull grainy surfaces. Mine is a VG Details piece of snot (although "a rare piece of snot" as a friend said). I happily paid 9K with the juice for it. Any attempt at an upgrade is gonna put me in the 30K range.
The Cross After Date obverse is actually fairly affordable, with 1-B being the least expensive. You can find groady Dets pieces in the 600 to 800 range, but a decent one is gonna run 2K and up. The surfaces on 1-Bs are not the best and choice pieces will bring more money.
10-T and 10-G are popular due to the 1 over Horizontal 1 date mistake. They are readily available for a price. Once again, you can get some pretty nasty low-end 10-T Dets pieces for 700 or less, but nice pieces will run 2 to 5K. 10-G is tougher and they bring about 50% more for nice pieces.
The Red Book set includes all of the coins in the Advanced Design Type Set including the 5-F. Fugio specialists do not include the American Congress Reverse as that was a rejected design and thus considered a pattern.
I'll post some pics later. Hope this gives some of you ideas for starting a Fugio collection. Happy hunting, even the basic set will take a few years to assemble, so be patient.
Comments
Thanks for the excellent post, @Rittenhouse
Fugios have always been among my favorite coins. Here are a few I own / have owned (you've seen some of them before):
Eight-Pointed Stars Reverse
And just for fun, here's a 1787 Fugio Restrike in Silver, Ex Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. and Harlan P. Smith
From the clashing, your Eliasberg 64RB appears to be 8-B. I've always loved the mid to later states with the super-heavy clash marks. My current piece is an early perfect state. Now that the collection is nearly complete, I need to add the cool die states like the 8-B clash and 11-X with the huge obv break. Not too long ago, I acquired a perfect state 20-R to go along with my terminal state.
If you still have your 2-C and 15-Y and want to sell, "Oooo, oooo," I got my hand up.
Thanks for the thread- I love mine!
A gorgeous 66RB 8-B, well struck and centered. while these do come really nice, this one is really, really nice.
You do have quite the eye for early copper. I'm hoping to make a circulated Fugio Cent one of my acquisitions for my Box of 20 this year. The issues I'm running into for circulated pieces is that... much like other early copper... not all straight graded pieces appear to have unblemished surfaces... but again... I'm looking at mostly F to VF coins. I like the idea that these pieces circulated in commerce, but I'm waiting on one that has decent (non porous) surfaces and acceptable color, with a full "Mind Your Business ". These seem to be elusive... I'm finding them in lower grades, and AU to MS grades, but this middle ground is a bit more difficult.
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
Your best chance is the SB or HA auctions.
Great post. Thank you.
What do you think about the error Fugios that were auctioned somewhat recently? I think they're way cool, but since you're a specialist, what are your thoughts? Do you own one? If not, why not? If you do, please share a pic!
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
While I find some errors, esp double-struck, very cool, I do not currently own any as I'm focused on upgrading varieties.
Nice post!
I have one, for my box of 20; I'm very thrilled to have it.
