Featured Dahlonega, GA: a short story

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1861-O halves were minted by the confederacy after they took over the mint.

 

Wait, they also minted coins in Charlotte and Dahlonega.
https://www.money.org/a-brief-history-of-confederate-coins/

 

I think Jefferson Davis was running to the islands to regroup with a booty full of gold when he got arrested somewhere in Georgia before catching a ship out. Civil War history is extremely interesting to me. I survived Shelby Foote's trilogy of Civil War chronicles.............about 3,000 pages of reading.

 

Fabulous piece. I love (road) trips like this where there's outdoorsy stuff, historical stuff, nostalgic stuff, you just need to move around and take it all in at whatever pace you want. Unfortunately, I don't think my wife would like me going out for a "day trip" and disappearing for a month or so... but I'd love to check out all those places, catch some MiLB, and even do a little prospectin'.

 

Well dang y'all...... Sixty years I been saying Dahlonega wrong. Now I gotta re-train myself... And that ain't easy for an old dog....

 

The New Orleans Mint made many coins for the Confederacy during the short time that it was open after the Rebels captured it. According to The Red Book, it made 330,000 half dollars while the U.S. Government still controlled it, 1,240,000 when the State of Louisiana took it from the Feds, and 962,633 when the Confederacy controlled. It also made four half dollars with the Confederate, reverse or obverse die, depending on you opinion of obverse and reverse. The only 1861-O half dollars that are attributed to the Confederacy have a small die crack on the obverse.





The New Orleans Mint also made 1861-O double eagles for the Confederacy.

The Dahlonega Mint made gold dollars and half eagles while it was under Confederate control. Both of those coins are very pricey.

The Charlotte Mint perhaps made $5 gold pieces while under Confederate control. The support for that assumption is not as strong as it is for Dahlonega. Late die state 1861-C half eagles are sometimes marketed as "Confederate pieces."

 

Bet you'd been rhyming it with "Talladega" like I was, right?

 

Busted…..

 

Well, heck, who could blame us?

Funny thing, it was my wife who corrected me -- and she's not exactly a Southerner by upbringing. Not sure where she learned the right pronunciation.

 

I'll go with: randomly happened to catch it as the answer (question) on an episode of Jeopardy.

 

From studies of die marriages of the half dollars it is now possible to tell which government struck the half dollars. The first two varieties were struck for the Union, the next six for the state of Louisiana, and the last six for the Confederacy. The obverse with the die crack from the rim to the nose was used for coins struck for the Confederacy before it cracked, and after it cracked. Then after it was used for the four Confederate Half dollars it was returned to use striking half dollars with the Union reverse. I do think it is possible to get the grading services to identify the issuing authority for the 1861 O halves. You'll probably have to pay for attribution though.

I was interested to see that the set of Dahlonega dollars did include the 1861 D, the only coin instantly recognizable as being a Confederate coin. The Mint was captured before the Union made any one dollar coins in 1861, so all 1861 D dollars were made by the Confederacy..

 

Thanks for this post and the pictures. As someone who love photography and is often travel influenced by them I appreciate the time you took to post with explanations. Next time I am in Georgia I will make an effort to visit.