Sandog
Bronze Member
When I lived 7 1/2 miles from this mint I was not aware of it. Drove by his home in Rutherfordton on my way to to work. Didn't detect or treasure hunt back then. My bad! My property line was a wild creek. That could have been real interesting. Anyone out there have one of these?
Quick Fact
In 1832, Christopher Bechtler of Rutherfordton, NC, minted the country’s first $1 gold coin, 17 years before the U.S. mint. During the mid-1800s, the Bechtlers minted more than $2.24 million in gold coins.North Carolina Gold and Christopher Bechtler’s Private Mint
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Leaflet | MapPress,Map data (c) OpenStreetMap
Drawn by the gold to be found in the rivers of western North Carolina, thousands of fortune seekers kindled a North Carolina Gold Rush to the foothills of the Blue Ridge in the 1820s. Among them was the German jeweler Christopher Bechtler who bought land in Rutherford County in 1830 and began his own – not very successful – search for gold.
At the time, the only mint in the United States was in Philadelphia, and it was difficult and dangerous to transport the raw gold there. A bill was proposed to Congress by Samuel Carson, a Rutherford resident, to open a mint in Rutherfordton, but the bill never reached a vote. A year after Bechtler and his family moved to the area, gold miners urged him to create a market for raw gold by opening a private mint.
First minting coins in $5 and $2.50 denominations, in 1832, Bechtler minted the country’s first $1 gold coin, 17 years before the U.S. mint. During the mid-1800s, the Bechtlers minted more than $2.24 million in gold coins.
