Show the fuelo cent A mint proof in gold of a copper cent is is a great rarity but W L boyd of baltimore has in his possession a gold proof of the first cent issued by tho tile united states government it was coined over years ago under tho the confederation on october 16 1780 confess congress passed an ordinance for establishing a mint and on july 6 1787 the I 1 first cents were coined tone tons of copper copper being ordered of jamea james jarvis the contractor this coin was called tho the fugio cent because of the inscription tion on it the obverse bore a sun suit dial with the sun at meridian on one side of which was the tire word fugio referring ferrin to the flight of time while on the kotlier other was the date 1787 below the dial was the legend mind your business from which the coin gained the name of the franklin cent inasmuch as lie was said to have uttered that sen sententious ten remark the tile reverse bore a chain of thirteen links each of which represented one of the original ori einal states in the center were the words we are one surrounded by a ring inscribed w with ith the words united states there are seven varieties of the fugio coin most of tho the differences being of minor importance one of them however has the name of the country as states united another which is very rare has each of tho tile chain links marked with the name of a state after the fugio coins were made the tire government put out no other coinage until 1791 when the eagle cent was issued only one other proof in goldoft gold of this Lis cent is known it is not in as good condition as sir boyds and sold recently for one of them was 8 sold old in the pratt collection in yew york in october 1879 and was classified ai as unique by W elliott woodward the numismatist who prepared the ibe catalogue proofs of the fugio cent were aleo also ma made do in silver the gold proof is of very ery fine metal and is of bright yellow V being nearly as largo large as a silver half dollar the tile marking is very distinct little wear showing allowing upon it norfolk va ilear admiral george brown took command ot of the N norfolk navy yard today relieving captain potter washington comptroller baa has appointed 0 anted louis 0 philli ps receiver of the merchants national bank of great rails falls fit 2 |