To facilitate commerce in the fledgling Southern economy, the United States commissioned the opening of a branch mint located in Charlotte, NC. Charlotte Mint Gold that has been preserved in Mint condition is highly prized by collectors and investors due to very small Mintages and low survival rates so very few of the original coins issued have survived. When Civil War started in , the Charlotte mint was overrun by the Confederacy and they issued a few gold coins bearing the C mintmark under Confederate Control.
The devastation of the Civil War led to the Charlotte mint never reopening. But, gold miners had it tough. Right from the start miners had problems converting their raw, unrefined gold into coinage they could use to trade for goods. In those days, the roads were little more than widened game trails. If you sent your raw gold to Philadelphia, you paid transportation costs and risked loss at the hands of bandits and Indians. If the raw gold did arrive, it took months before the mint converted them to gold coins and returned them over the same dangerous trails.
To solve the problem, the Bechtler family began operation of a private gold coin mint in the Carolinas from to Back then, the gold coins were widely accepted in trade. President Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans, signed the bill authorizing the opening of an official branch of the Mint of the United States in The record for production was set in when 84, five-dollar gold pieces were coined.
The North Carolina Militia, under orders of the governor, placed the U. Branch Mint at Charlotte under state control on April 20, Final coinage of half eagles by chief coiner Emmor Graham occurred on May 31, , Birdsall states.
Donnelly writes that 20 deposits were made between May 1 to 21, , while the facility was under new control. By Sept. Most of the gold and silver coins and bullion it held were turned over to the Confederate States "presumably for shipment to Europe to pay for war supplies.
He adds: "The services of the Charlotte Mint for coining Confederate money were offered [by] President [Jefferson] Davis, but it was not the intention of the Confederate government to institute coinage. A report dated Dec. The secretary's opinion was that the coinage of hard money was a waste of means and money, according to Donnelly. Reports vary as to the use of the facility during the war years. Donnelly states that rolling copper was the main activity. A Museum of Art bulletin reprinted in the March The Numismatist states that the building was used as naval offices for the Confederates, and that after the war, federal armies used the offices during reconstruction.
According to Winter, the Charlotte Branch Mint was used as headquarters for a regiment of Confederate troops and by Charlotte citizens for parties and social gatherings. One fact is not questioned: The Charlotte Branch Mint never reopened to issue coinage. Isaac W. Jones serving as assayer. Inventor Thomas A. Edison reportedly came to the facility in to conduct experiments for two years on separating gold from ore by means of electricity.
The assayer's office closed without fanfare July 31, By , the government ordered the building's demolition for an expansion of the city's post office. A citizens' group was then formed to preserve the building in the midst of the Depression. The group, called the Mint Museum Society, purchased the Mint building material as it was being torn down and placed it on a donated lot in the Eastover Section of Charlotte. The building was rebuilt, through the assistance of the Public Works Program of the U.
Today the structure is an art museum. It houses paintings, sculpture, ceramics, books and Charlotte gold coins. Coin World - November 12, It was also the smallest diameter U. The Coronet type appears at its actual size, 13 millimeters, center, and enlarged about four times. All coin images courtesy of HeritageCoins. The Charlotte Mint struck only gold coins during its nearly year life before the Civil War halted production. Options to dispose of the unrefined gold at that time in North Carolina were limited: 1.
A miner could send the gold to the Philadelphia Mint, paying transport charges and risking theft, and then wait months for payment. Personally taking the gold to the Philadelphia Mint on the stagecoach would cost five to 10 cents a mile. Stautzenberger writes that it became necessary to arm drivers to protect the passengers and valuables. US coins minted prior to , and particularly coins minted prior to the ban on Gold, have proven to be among the most popular and lucrative areas of US rare coins.
While profiling all US coins would be enough to fill a book we will attempt showing the most commonly purchased US rare coins for investing and collecting. Here are six key areas that are popular today:. Commemoratives — Coins specifically struck in low mintages to commemorate historic events. Most coins that are scarce today started out as common issues struck in large quantities by the US Mint. Even though thousands or even millions of copies of a particular coin were originally minted, after many decades, the vast majority were worn out in circulation, lost, or destroyed.
As a result, these remaining coins in pristine condition have become rarer and harder to find over time. Other coins were minted in very small quantities to begin with. This group of coins includes older proof issues, test strikes, pattern coinage, and error coins. However, rarity refers to more than just the number of coins in existence.
If a coin is said to be rare or scarce, it implies that the available quantity is small relative to the current or expected demand for the coin in the marketplace. The size and intensity of demand is influenced by these criteria:. As far as quality is concerned, numismatic coins always fall into one of two basic conditions.
Either they are circulated coins- coins that exhibit wear- or they are uncirculated coins. The ANA has endorsed a grading scale that divides circulated and uncirculated coins into 24 distinct coin grades. There are 13 circulated grades and 11 uncirculated grades. The lowest uncirculated grade is MS, while the highest is MS The "MS" stands for Mint State. Each step up the grading scale indicates an improvement in quality, rarity, and usually a dramatic difference in the coin's price.
Today, the distinction between collectors and investors has become blurred. This is because investors have learned that the qualities of outstanding coin collections also produce outstanding portfolios. Many kinds of collections offer the same range of diversification that would be provided in a pure investment.
0コメント