This listing is for the photographed 1785 Nova Constellatio Copper. This is for the actual coin pictured. Amazing piece of history. More information on this coin type below. Great detail, and a great piece for a collection. Pointed Rays.
The Nova Constellatio coins are the first coins struck under the authority of The United States of America. These pattern coins were struck in early 1783, and are known in three silver denominations (1,000-Units, 500-Units, 100-Units), and one copper denomination (5-Units). All known examples bear the legend "NOVA CONSTELLATIO" with the exception of a unique silver 500-Unit piece.
The Nova Constellatio patterns were the culmination of two years of work on the part of Robert Morris, the Founding Father credited with financing the Revolutionary War. Morris was unanimously elected the Nation’s first Superintendent of Finance in 1781; on February 21 of the following year, Congress passed the following resolution:
That Congress approve of the establishment of a mint; and, that the Superintendent of finance be, and hereby is directed to prepare and report to Congress a plan for establishing and conducting the same.
The financier’s plan, developed with his assistant, Gouverneur Morris, was ambitious: he hoped to unite the fledgling Nation with a monetary unit that would allow for easy conversion from British, Spanish, Portuguese, or State currencies to U.S. funds. More importantly, Morris’s proposal would be the first system of coinage in Western Europe or the Americas to use decimal accounting – an innovation that has been adopted by every nation on earth in the last two centuries.
1785 Nova Constellatio Copper Pointed Rays - VF Details (Very Fine) -Very Rare US Coin- 1785 Constellatio Colonial Issue Coin
The Nova Constellatio coins are the first coins struck under the authority of The United States of America. These pattern coins were struck in early 1783, and are known in three silver denominations (1,000-Units, 500-Units, 100-Units), and one copper denomination (5-Units). All known examples bear the legend "NOVA CONSTELLATIO" with the exception of a unique silver 500-Unit piece.
The Nova Constellatio patterns were the culmination of two years of work on the part of Robert Morris, the Founding Father credited with financing the Revolutionary War. Morris was unanimously elected the Nation’s first Superintendent of Finance in 1781; on February 21 of the following year, Congress passed the following resolution:
That Congress approve of the establishment of a mint; and, that the Superintendent of finance be, and hereby is directed to prepare and report to Congress a plan for establishing and conducting the same.
The financier’s plan, developed with his assistant, Gouverneur Morris, was ambitious: he hoped to unite the fledgling Nation with a monetary unit that would allow for easy conversion from British, Spanish, Portuguese, or State currencies to U.S. funds. More importantly, Morris’s proposal would be the first system of coinage in Western Europe or the Americas to use decimal accounting – an innovation that has been adopted by every nation on earth in the last two centuries.
1785 Nova Constellatio Copper Pointed Rays - VF Details (Very Fine) -Very Rare US Coin- 1785 Constellatio Colonial Issue Coin