Private Mint of the 1830s Produces Over 1 Million Coins from the North Carolina Gold Rush
Posted by Derek Sawchenko on
In 1829, Christopher Bechtler Sr. migrated to the United States from Germany with his family. He opened up a watchmaker store in Philadelphia with some success. Meanwhile, the Carolina Gold Rush, the first gold rush in the United States, followed the discovery of a large gold nugget in North Carolina in 1799. This created a series of findings in North Carolina that lasted all the way up to the 1840s. In order to take advantage of this, Bechtler and his family operated a private mint from 1831 to 1850s. He was able to produce more than a million gold coins in his private mint.
Becthler's coins became well known for their reliability in terms of weight and gold content. This allowed them to succeed against other mints such as the one run by Templeton Reid of Georgia. In 1838, Dahlonega and Charlotte Mints opened which led to the steep decline of production at the Bechtler mint. Eventually, this led to the mint closing its doors in 1850.
This particular example is a population of 1 in this grade with only 2 higher and has a price guide value of $33,300 in the CDN CPG.