The New Orleans Mint And Its Southern Coinage

PCGS

The First Gold Strikes

Around 1799, a 12-year old boy found a 17-pound gold nugget while playing on a river bank in North Carolina. His family wasn't aware of the actual treasure that they had and sold it to a jeweler for around $3.50 (about $70 in current value). After learning the real value of what they had sold, the family scoured the area around the river and found other large nuggets, including one that weighed almost 28 pounds. The Reed Mine was America's first gold strike. These farmers kept their secret for as long as they could, but by 1820 mining operations were springing up along streams and rivers all across the southern and western regions of North Carolina. The "Carolina Gold Rush" was on and people came in droves hoping to strike it rich.



By 1828, gold was also found in northern Georgia, and those who hadn't become rich in the Carolinas headed south. The mines and streams in these two states were providing gold nuggets and gold dust to be made into coins, but the major problem was that the nuggets and dust had to be shipped 750 miles northeast to Philadelphia. The trip was long, dangerous, and expensive. Private gold coining operations such as that by Templeton Reid sprang up in Georgia, but their integrity was questioned. Additional private gold coins were struck by the Bechtlers, whose accuracy was unchallenged, and their coins were widely accepted in the southeastern region of America. But by 1831, the miners had petitioned Congress to establish branch mints somewhere in North Carolina and Georgia.

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