The Final US Coins Of The New Orleans Mint

PCGS - The New Orleans Mint was one of the most important branch mints opened by the United States during the first half century of the federal coinage era, which officially kicked off in 1793. While the "O" mint was one of three branch mints to open in 1838 - all three the first U.S. Mint facilities outside of Philadelphia - the New Orleans Mint went onto prove the most prolific and enduring of the trio.


Barber dime, 1909-O 10C, PCGS MS67

The locations of these branch mints were highly strategic. New Orleans was the largest port in the South during the earlier 19th century; meanwhile, Charlotte and Dahlonega were situated in the geographical heart of the 1820s Gold Rush, an event that lured thousands of prospectors to the hills of northern Georgia and western North Carolina two decades before the California Gold Rush. And while the Charlotte and Dahlonega Mints were critical to supplying the nation and particularly the South with gold coinage, they served an arguably much more limited role than did the New Orleans Mint.

The "C" and "D" Mints of Charlotte and Dahlonega, respectively, produced only gold coins - perhaps not incongruous with the fact that they sprang up in their far-flung, relatively remote locales solely because they were close to the source of newly recovered gold. The New Orleans Mint was centered in one of the largest trading hubs in an expanding United States and was in close proximity to large shipments of gold and silver entering the nearby port. The New Orleans Mint struck large amounts of both silver and gold coinage.

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