The Charlotte Mint
One of the lesser known US mints is the Charlotte Mint of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina. This mint was established in 1835 because of the developing Carolina Gold Rush. Actually, the first gold mine of the United States was called Reed Gold Mine, situated in North Carolina. This mint started at the same time as the new Orleans Mint in Louisiana and the Dahlonega Mint in Georgia that President Andrew Jackson signed into law.
The construction of the Charlotte Mint began in 1836 and opened on July 27 of 1837. The coins processed here were struck from the refined gold acquired from the gold rush until March 28 of 1838. The intitial coin stamped here was the $5 Gold Half Eagle Liberty without Turban coin. Throughout that same year, some $2.50 Gold Quarter Eagle Liberty without Turban varieties were struck. In 1849, the Charlotte Mint produced liberty Head Gold Dollars. All of the coins bear the "C" mint mark and there was over $5 million worth of gold coins minted here.
North Carolina withdrew from the Union in the month of May, 1861. At that time, the Confederacy assumed control over the mint and started producing coins also. Once the bullion reserved were depleted, they transformed the mint into a military facility and hospital until the end of the war. The Union occupied the facility at the close of the war and into reconstruction.
Private citizens got control of the building from the US Treasury in 1933 and chose to move the building. The building became the "Mint Museum of Art", which was the first art museum established in the state of North Carolina. They showed an assortment of artwork and a complete set of coins from the mint.
Total Number of Gold Dollars Ever Minted in Charlotte = 109,134 face value worth $109,134
Total Number of $2.50 Gold Quarter Eagles Ever Minted in Charlotte = 217,833 face value worth $544,583
Total Number of $5 Gold Half Eagles Ever Minted in Charlotte = 879,495 face value worth $4,397,475
One of the lesser known US mints is the Charlotte Mint of Mecklenburg County in North Carolina. This mint was established in 1835 because of the developing Carolina Gold Rush. Actually, the first gold mine of the United States was called Reed Gold Mine, situated in North Carolina. This mint started at the same time as the new Orleans Mint in Louisiana and the Dahlonega Mint in Georgia that President Andrew Jackson signed into law.
The construction of the Charlotte Mint began in 1836 and opened on July 27 of 1837. The coins processed here were struck from the refined gold acquired from the gold rush until March 28 of 1838. The intitial coin stamped here was the $5 Gold Half Eagle Liberty without Turban coin. Throughout that same year, some $2.50 Gold Quarter Eagle Liberty without Turban varieties were struck. In 1849, the Charlotte Mint produced liberty Head Gold Dollars. All of the coins bear the "C" mint mark and there was over $5 million worth of gold coins minted here.
North Carolina withdrew from the Union in the month of May, 1861. At that time, the Confederacy assumed control over the mint and started producing coins also. Once the bullion reserved were depleted, they transformed the mint into a military facility and hospital until the end of the war. The Union occupied the facility at the close of the war and into reconstruction.
Private citizens got control of the building from the US Treasury in 1933 and chose to move the building. The building became the "Mint Museum of Art", which was the first art museum established in the state of North Carolina. They showed an assortment of artwork and a complete set of coins from the mint.
Total Number of Gold Dollars Ever Minted in Charlotte = 109,134 face value worth $109,134
Total Number of $2.50 Gold Quarter Eagles Ever Minted in Charlotte = 217,833 face value worth $544,583
Total Number of $5 Gold Half Eagles Ever Minted in Charlotte = 879,495 face value worth $4,397,475
The Dahlonega Mint
Despite the fact that gold was discovered from Virginia to Alabama, an especially rich source was uncovered on Cherokee Indian property in Georgia, close what would become Dahlonega, in 1828, creating an enormous convergence of prospectors. The wilderness town of Auraria sprang up around the mines, then close-by Dahlonega (from the Cherokee dialect, significance "yellow cash") edged her out as the recently shaped Lumpkin County seat. In spite of the fact that a few private firms, including Templeton Reid and the Bechtlers, had endeavored to ease the issue of changing over the raw gold to ready coinage, there was significant political pressure for an acknowledged Federal coinage.
A Congressional appropriation of $50,000 was made for the development and furnishing of the Dahlonega Mint. The arrangements were duplicates of the aforementioned drawn for the Charlotte Mint by the architect William Strickland.
A site was picked on a slope above the town square and an construction contract was signed in September 1835. Dahlonega's remoteness and the absence of oversight were critical factors in the following construction issues. There were nearly 15,000 mineworkers in and around Dahlonega at the peak of the gold rush. Dahlonega encountered a shortage of merchandise, building supplies, and dependable work. Franklin Peale, after landing in Dahlonega in November 1837, to examine the Dahlonega Mint structure for the Philadelphia Mint, discovered the nature of workmanship to be wretched. Although the workmanship was shaky, Peale eventually proposed approval of the building.
The Dahlonega Mint was equipped with impressive minting equipment, incorporating two steam-driven, toggle joint presses, the same as initially used to strike coins at the Philadelphia Mint in 1836. Power was generated by a steam engine and an arrangement of pulleys transmitted this to the presses, which were set right above the engine room. The presses were intended to handle more or less one coin every second. The size of the presses limited striking coins of half eagle denomination and smaller.
Superintendent Joseph Singleton directed the striking of the mint's first coinage, 80 half eagles ($5 gold), on April 21, 1838, commenting that the coins were handsome, precise, and had "a most agreeable reception wherever carried." The first coinage of the quarter eagle ($2½ gold) did not happen until February of 1839.
To turn gold into coinage, depositors would present nuggets, dust, bars and foreign coins to the superintendent and receive a receipt. The cache would then be melted and assayed to determine it's worth. Since most Georgia gold was purer than the standard of fineness (.900), the ordinary practice was to leave the naturally occuring silver, as opposed to separating the silver from the gold, before adjusting the fineness to .900. The gold was then minted and the depositor received Dahlonega coinage in the amount of their deposit.
The Dahlonega Mint positions were extremely political, with staff changes frequently being made on a shift in a political power in Washington, a circumstance that caused turmoil in the mint work force. Paul Rossignol, who was seen as an "outsider" by the people of Dahlonega, replaced Singleton as Superintendent, upon the decision of Whig President William Henry Harrison in 1941. In June 1843, James Cooper then replaced Rossignol.
Cooper, who was a West Point graduate, had the most productive residency in the mint's history. He additionally oversaw the first generation of the gold dollar in July 1849. In October 1849, Anderson Redding replaced Cooper, the decision of Whig President Zachary Taylor.
The majority of gold deposits at the Dahlonega Mint happened in the 1840s, in spite of the fact that the office also accepted deposits from other states. The mint had a lot of California activity accompanying the discovery of gold that state in 1848. Much of this gold was carried to the mint by mineworkers who had worked the Dahlonega mines before seeking their fortunes in California. This activity carried the mint as local gold declined. Lamentably, the California gold brought to Dahlonega dwindled after 1854, when the San Francisco Branch Mint was opened.
Julius Patton was appointed Superintendent in 1853, by recently Democrat President Franklin Pierce. In 1854, the Dahlonega Mint had its only three dollar gold production. The decline in production at Dahlonega by the late 1850's caused many to question it's ongoing viability.
George Kellogg supplanted Patton as Superintendent in October 1860. The State of Georgia withdrew from the Union in January 1861. The mint handled 1,597 half eagles in February 1861,as reported to the Philadelphia Mint. After Superintendent Kellogg tendered his abdication to President Lincoln in April, the Dahlonega Mint generated 1,600-1,700 half eagles and 2,750-3,250 gold dollars dated 1861, none reported to Philadelphia. The extra coinage was made, not by the Confederacy, but by the same who had executed the February strikings, yet with a new allegiance. The Dahlonega Mint was shut by request of the Confederate Congress on June 1, 1861 and never revived as a U. S. Mint.
Throughout its 24 years of operation, the Dahlonega Mint struck just 1.4 million gold coins, with a face value in excess of 6.1 million dollars. The office struck half eagles in every year (24 issues). Quarter eagles were made from 1839-1859, except for 1858, for 20 separate issue dates. Gold dollars were minted from 1849-1861, which constitutes 13 issues. The solitary production of the $3 gold piece happened in 1854. Accordingly, a complete date set of Dahlonega gold coins comprises of 58 pieces, despite the fact that die varieties can push that number well above 60.
The Dahlonega Mint location served as an Assay Office for the Confederate Treasury throughout the Civil War. The office was given to the State of Georgia turning it into the main building of North Georgia Agricultural College in 1873. Lamentably, the structure burned to the foundation in December 1878. Another school building was built on the site and exists today as Price Memorial Hall of North Georgia College & State University.
Compiling a set of Dahlonega gold coins, despite the fact that it's a greatly challenging undertaking, is still possible and an incredibly valuable investment based on current values.
Despite the fact that gold was discovered from Virginia to Alabama, an especially rich source was uncovered on Cherokee Indian property in Georgia, close what would become Dahlonega, in 1828, creating an enormous convergence of prospectors. The wilderness town of Auraria sprang up around the mines, then close-by Dahlonega (from the Cherokee dialect, significance "yellow cash") edged her out as the recently shaped Lumpkin County seat. In spite of the fact that a few private firms, including Templeton Reid and the Bechtlers, had endeavored to ease the issue of changing over the raw gold to ready coinage, there was significant political pressure for an acknowledged Federal coinage.
A Congressional appropriation of $50,000 was made for the development and furnishing of the Dahlonega Mint. The arrangements were duplicates of the aforementioned drawn for the Charlotte Mint by the architect William Strickland.
A site was picked on a slope above the town square and an construction contract was signed in September 1835. Dahlonega's remoteness and the absence of oversight were critical factors in the following construction issues. There were nearly 15,000 mineworkers in and around Dahlonega at the peak of the gold rush. Dahlonega encountered a shortage of merchandise, building supplies, and dependable work. Franklin Peale, after landing in Dahlonega in November 1837, to examine the Dahlonega Mint structure for the Philadelphia Mint, discovered the nature of workmanship to be wretched. Although the workmanship was shaky, Peale eventually proposed approval of the building.
The Dahlonega Mint was equipped with impressive minting equipment, incorporating two steam-driven, toggle joint presses, the same as initially used to strike coins at the Philadelphia Mint in 1836. Power was generated by a steam engine and an arrangement of pulleys transmitted this to the presses, which were set right above the engine room. The presses were intended to handle more or less one coin every second. The size of the presses limited striking coins of half eagle denomination and smaller.
Superintendent Joseph Singleton directed the striking of the mint's first coinage, 80 half eagles ($5 gold), on April 21, 1838, commenting that the coins were handsome, precise, and had "a most agreeable reception wherever carried." The first coinage of the quarter eagle ($2½ gold) did not happen until February of 1839.
To turn gold into coinage, depositors would present nuggets, dust, bars and foreign coins to the superintendent and receive a receipt. The cache would then be melted and assayed to determine it's worth. Since most Georgia gold was purer than the standard of fineness (.900), the ordinary practice was to leave the naturally occuring silver, as opposed to separating the silver from the gold, before adjusting the fineness to .900. The gold was then minted and the depositor received Dahlonega coinage in the amount of their deposit.
The Dahlonega Mint positions were extremely political, with staff changes frequently being made on a shift in a political power in Washington, a circumstance that caused turmoil in the mint work force. Paul Rossignol, who was seen as an "outsider" by the people of Dahlonega, replaced Singleton as Superintendent, upon the decision of Whig President William Henry Harrison in 1941. In June 1843, James Cooper then replaced Rossignol.
Cooper, who was a West Point graduate, had the most productive residency in the mint's history. He additionally oversaw the first generation of the gold dollar in July 1849. In October 1849, Anderson Redding replaced Cooper, the decision of Whig President Zachary Taylor.
The majority of gold deposits at the Dahlonega Mint happened in the 1840s, in spite of the fact that the office also accepted deposits from other states. The mint had a lot of California activity accompanying the discovery of gold that state in 1848. Much of this gold was carried to the mint by mineworkers who had worked the Dahlonega mines before seeking their fortunes in California. This activity carried the mint as local gold declined. Lamentably, the California gold brought to Dahlonega dwindled after 1854, when the San Francisco Branch Mint was opened.
Julius Patton was appointed Superintendent in 1853, by recently Democrat President Franklin Pierce. In 1854, the Dahlonega Mint had its only three dollar gold production. The decline in production at Dahlonega by the late 1850's caused many to question it's ongoing viability.
George Kellogg supplanted Patton as Superintendent in October 1860. The State of Georgia withdrew from the Union in January 1861. The mint handled 1,597 half eagles in February 1861,as reported to the Philadelphia Mint. After Superintendent Kellogg tendered his abdication to President Lincoln in April, the Dahlonega Mint generated 1,600-1,700 half eagles and 2,750-3,250 gold dollars dated 1861, none reported to Philadelphia. The extra coinage was made, not by the Confederacy, but by the same who had executed the February strikings, yet with a new allegiance. The Dahlonega Mint was shut by request of the Confederate Congress on June 1, 1861 and never revived as a U. S. Mint.
Throughout its 24 years of operation, the Dahlonega Mint struck just 1.4 million gold coins, with a face value in excess of 6.1 million dollars. The office struck half eagles in every year (24 issues). Quarter eagles were made from 1839-1859, except for 1858, for 20 separate issue dates. Gold dollars were minted from 1849-1861, which constitutes 13 issues. The solitary production of the $3 gold piece happened in 1854. Accordingly, a complete date set of Dahlonega gold coins comprises of 58 pieces, despite the fact that die varieties can push that number well above 60.
The Dahlonega Mint location served as an Assay Office for the Confederate Treasury throughout the Civil War. The office was given to the State of Georgia turning it into the main building of North Georgia Agricultural College in 1873. Lamentably, the structure burned to the foundation in December 1878. Another school building was built on the site and exists today as Price Memorial Hall of North Georgia College & State University.
Compiling a set of Dahlonega gold coins, despite the fact that it's a greatly challenging undertaking, is still possible and an incredibly valuable investment based on current values.