1787 Fugio Cent -- What Do I Have Here?

Got this from the LCS. Seemed cool so I thought "What the heck -- why not?" Looks like I did alright for just a random buy w/o any knowledge.

That's what I was thinking. The condition of that planchet and the great color make the OP's an Fine price-wise in today's market.

Looks like a $600 coin retail.

Beautiful Fugio and a heck of a score for what you paid. I wish I could find those kinds of deals!

A bit more behind Fugio for language lovers:

Fugio = I flee, I escape, I pass quickly, I hasten or speed - as in the stock phrase "Tempus fugit" - Virgil's original Latin was "sed fugit interea fugit inreparabile tempus", in free verse: "but meanwhile it flees, it flees, irretrievable time" -- this is a figurative use of "fugio" and why the Fugio cent uses this phrasing metaphorically.

The concept of flight as a metaphor for escape/fleeing remains in "time flies" and in the sense of a person fleeing from something, e.g. the legal concept of "unlawful flight", which is not bombing around in your Cessna without a pilot's license, but going on the run from the law.

The choice of "fugio" or "I fly" instead of "fugit" or "It flies" is interesting in and of itself, because it adds personification, just as the sun is given a face and is not a featureless disc. This way, whoever is looking at the coin can decide if "fugio" is referring to the sun or the sundial. or even to the coin itself!

(The unwieldy "fugiunt" could refer to both the sundial and the sun at once -- but who would collect "Fugiunt" cents...?)

Very nice score!

Ditto .... what jerseyben wrote.

If it has already sold it isn't advertising.