Dahlonega Mint

Posted by Derek Sawchenko on

When the Georgia Gold Rush began in the Mid- 1800’s, a branch of the United States Mint was built in Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, to enable Miners to Assay and Mint their Gold without having to travel to Philadelphia. The mint produced coins every year from 1838 through 1861. The commissioner, Ignatius Alphonso Few, purchased ten acres south of Dahlonega for $1,050 (equivalent to $27,581 today) in August 1835. He then hired architect Benjamin Towns, who was the lowest bidder, for $33,450 (equivalent to $878,656 today), to build the mint in under eighteen months. A flywheel, a drawing frame, a crankshaft, a coining press, and eighteen annealing pans were among the pieces of mint equipment that were erected in 1837. "Fifty to sixty gold coins could be produced by the coining press every minute.” Even though this mint is not currently in operation its legacy lives on.


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