By Grace Allen

In early May, a Norfolk family using metal detectors discovered a rare coin in Wrentham center. The find, a 1785 Nova Constellatio, is considered the first American coin type struck under the new government of the United States of America. 

Mick Kozikowski, his wife Kathleen, and children Michael and Kasia were in the municipal lot located at the corner of Franklin St. (Rt. 140) and Dedham St. (Rt. 1A). The dirt lot had been dug up in preparation for paving and landscaping and it seemed like a good spot to do some exploring with the metal detectors.

One area in particular, where the new clock is now located, seemed like a promising location because only about eight inches of dirt had been removed. Almost immediately the family discovered the coin, as well as other items.

“It is a copper coin with a green patina, and you could tell it was something really, really old,” explained Kozikowski, who is a coin collector. “But I had never seen a coin like that before. When we got home, my wife used Google Lens and we also did an online search, and we were shocked at what we had found.”

Nova Constellatio coins came into limited circulation in 1783 under the auspices of Robert Morris, a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and a financier of the Revolutionary War. The colonies had been using a hodgepodge of foreign coins, and Morris proposed for the fledgling nation a system upon which modern currency is now based. The Nova Constellatio was minted in different denominations—Kozikowski’s coin is the Pointed Ray version of the 5-unit copper coin, a half-cent piece.

Rare and old coins often are found by metal detector hobbyists, says Rod Crochiere, the owner of I Have Coins & Collectibles, a store in downtown Franklin. He explained that Kozikowski’s discovery is significant because of its historical value.

“It’s definitely what hobbyists call a ‘bucket-list’ find,” said Crochiere. “It’s an incredible thing to get out of the ground because you have to be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.” 

Kozikowski and his family also found other coins that day, most in the same location, including a Braided Hair large cent, circa 1840, two Indian Head pennies (1900 and 1906), a 1917 Mercury dime, as well as various 21st century coins—coins from four different centuries of Wrentham history.

They also unearthed some coat buttons, one with fabric still attached, a silver knee buckle, and slate roof tacks. Based on research focusing on the button shanks, Kozikowski dates the different buttons from 1770 to 1815. The silver knee buckle likely was from the same period and would have been used to fasten the straps at the leg opening of breeches. 

Greg Stahl of the Wrentham Historical Commission says the municipal lot (also known as the Center School lot) where the Kozikowski family found the items was a significant location in the town’s history. The parcel was the site of the David Fisher Dry Goods store, the Roebuck Tavern, and the bank, among other buildings. David Fisher was one of the earliest settlers in the area, and the dry goods store was located right at the spot where the coins and other items were discovered, said Stahl.

“Most likely somebody was at the store and the Nova Constellatio coin fell out of their pocket,” he surmised. “It’s a reasonable guess because the store was there in the late 1700s.”

The David Fisher Dry Goods store burned to the ground in 1868, one of several buildings destroyed during a fire in downtown Wrentham. In 1895 the Center School was built on the site. The school and its main entrance faced Franklin St. but had side doors facing Dedham St., close to the location of the dry goods store that had stood there before. The school building also was used for town offices and voting, said Stahl, noting voters would’ve had to use that side door.

“It could’ve been that the pennies fell out of someone’s pocket while they were standing in line to vote,” Stahl guessed. “Or more likely, they fell out of a school child’s pocket.”

Kozikowski says the discoveries in downtown Wrentham have made history come alive for his children, who just a few weeks earlier had been to the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, held each year on Patriot’s Day. The Nova Constellatio, although corroded from being in the ground so long, looks to have had minimal contact wear, he noted, suggesting the coin had been lost around the time it was minted. To find it in modern-day Wrentham in 2023, when the spotlight is focused on the town’s past 350 years, seems especially fortuitous.

Stahl, the town’s official historian, said “It’s amazing. People look for this stuff all their lives and don’t find anything.”

Kozikowski agreed, musing “It’s like a handshake with the past