(ca. 1859) Fugio “pattern” by Horatio Rust and Scovill Manufacturing Company. Newman 101-BB, W-17520. Rarity-8. All-Seeing Eye Reverse. Silver. MS-63 (PCGS).154.2 grains. Created ca. 1859 by Connecticut’s Scovill Manufacturing from “five parts of the dies” Horatio Rust claimed to have found, a “pattern” that presaged nothing and a “restrike” that had no predecessor. Just two of these exist, namely this piece and the specimen sold in Garrett III as lot 1508. The surfaces are beautifully toned, with bright blue around the obverse periphery and dominating the anepigraphic exergue, intermingled with gold and rose most everywhere else against a bright, lustrous silvery backdrop. Double striking is seen at the obverse center, within the numerals and sundial details, but the evocative all-seeing eye on the reverse is crisp. The reverse is perfectly centered, with 100% of the border showing denticles, while denticles are only visible around the obverse from 10:00 to 7:00. Besides some hairlines, the preservation is excellent, and the overall appearance is beautiful.<p>This is the discovery specimen that appeared in the Chapman brothers’ Whitman Collection sale of August 1893, “once the property of the great collector Charles I. Bushnell.” The weight listed for that piece of “154 1/8 grains” is precisely equivalent to this example’s weight, while the Garrett coin is a full two grains lighter, allowing us to nail down the provenance precisely. The Whitman sale included Bushnell’s entire collection of this concoction, offered under the heading of THE PATTERNS FOR THE FIRST U.S. CENTS in seven lots. The collection stayed together when the Chapmans bought the whole lot in as a group for $500. The Philadelphia brothers seemed rather excited about them, reporting “the above set are believed to be unique in every way … and this is the first time they have ever been offered for sale.”<p>Ford had one of these in brass, offered in Ford I as lot 315; that appears to have been the last time any Newman 101-BB was offered for sale. An example in silver has not appeared in far longer, perhaps since 1980.PCGS Population: 1, none finer.From the Archangel Collection. Earlier, from Stack’s sale of the David Spence Collection, March 1975, lot 744; Henry and S. Hudson Chapman’s sale of the C.T. Whitman Collection, August 1893, lot 338.
