Catalog
500 Units - Nova Constellatio "Type II" Pattern
| Issuer | United States (pre-federal and private territorial) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1783 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The Nova Constellatio patterns were produced in 1783 at the Philadelphia shop of Benjamin Dudley, working under the direction of Gouverneur Morris, who had proposed a decimal coinage system to Congress the previous year. Morris's scheme was mathematically elegant but politically doomed — the unit he devised proved too small for practical commerce, and Thomas Jefferson's competing proposal, which substituted the familiar dollar as the base unit, ultimately prevailed.
The Type II designation distinguishes this striking from the Type I by differences in the obverse die, specifically the arrangement of rays. Dudley produced these as presentation pieces for Congressional consideration, not for circulation.