Conder101

Simpe reason, mintages were low. By the time the Charolette mint was established the gold mines in the area were beginning to play out and their output was greatly reduced. Also the area was still basically rural so there just wasn't that much need for coins locally. It probably made more sense to just have the gold assayed, cast into bars and then shipped out. Finally the rich strikes in California occured just ten years after the Charlotte Mint opened which drew miners and other out of the area further reducing output and creating much greater output of gold from the other mints. This made the Charlotte mint output even smaller by comparison.

Something else to consider is that the Charolette mint closed down in 1861, but collecting by mintmark did not become popular until the 1930's. The only thing that mattered was the date and it was much easier to find a nice Philadelphia or other mint coin for your collection. So the rare C mint coins continued to circulate until they were worn and redeemed for recoining. That means a low survival rate. By the time people began becoming interested in acquiring the C mint gold coins most of them were already gone.

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