News — Pre-1933 Gold Coins

The 1797 16 Stars, Small Eagle is one of the major rarities in the $5 series. It is estimated that at most 25-30 specimens exist in all grades with EF-AU being typical. A few choice uncs exist but none have appeared on the market in many years.

The Charlotte Mint was the first United States branch mint. It was located in Charlotte, North Carolina and specialized in gold coinage. Following the primary documented discovery of gold withinside the United States, the country's first gold mine became installed in North Carolina on the Reed Gold Mine. As no mints existed withinside the Charlotte area, miners needed to ship their gold dirt to Philadelphia to be melted and coined. The transportation procedure became difficult, slow, expensive, and dangerous; frustration with this device brought about the advent of personal gold coining operations withinside the Charlotte area. However, making gold into...

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...