Gold was discovered in Georgia during the 1820's. Over the next ten years news spread throughout the United States, thus, by 1830 America's first gold rush was in full swing. A great number of those fortune seekers were owners of cotton farms. Templeton Reid, a resident of Milledgeville, then the state capital of Georgia, had built a thriving business making complete cotton gins, repairing time pieces (clocks and watches), and manufacturing rifles. As fast as those former cotton producers left their farms to seek their fortune in gold dust, Reid's business plummeted. Reid, also, sought to find his riches from the gold fields, but not by panning or digging for gold. Reid, a very enterprising man, learned that the miners, lucky enough to hit pay dirt, lost quite a lot of the value of their fortune due to the fact that the miners had to ship unrefined gold to the distant Philadelphia Mint (nearest U.S. Mint), paying express and insurance charges of five percent in each direction and waiting over a month for return. Reid decided there was a commercial need in the mining community for conversion of gold dust and nuggets into coinage. To such an artisan, making coins presented no difficulty. Using careful computations he figured a fee of seven per cent (a savings to the miners of three per cent) could be earned by converting raw gold into coins with denominations of $2.50, $5.00 and $10.00. A short time thereafter, Templeton Reid moved his facilities to Gainesville, Georgia, which was closer to the center of actual mining activity (about 10 miles). Gold coins were produced at Reid's Mint and put into circulation. Following photos courtesy of Hancock & Harwell's raregold.com website. After reading accompanying text in box to right of obverse phot click link to view reverse of coin: 1830 Templeton Reid Gold (52.1 grains) $2.50: http://www.raregold.com/r-s252.htm 1830 Templeton Reid Gold (121.5 grains) $5.00: http://www.raregold.com/r-kagintr5.htm 1830 Templeton Reid Gold $10.00 (247.8 grains): http://www.raregold.com/r-s101.htm Some of Reid's $10 Gold pieces were undated and bore 40 stars on the obverse: Undated $10.00 Gold w/40 stars on Obverse: http://www.raregold.com/r-s103.htm Templeton's Reid's private mint operated for just a short time. Coin mintage took place during part of July, all of August and September, and part of October, 1830. As his coinage spread around Georgia, one of Reid's gold pieces came to the attention of a banker who was exchanging raw gold ore at a handsome profit. The banker only known as "No Assayer" launched a campaign to discredit Reid's gold creations. "No Assayer" claimed, via newspaper articles that he'd had the mint (Philadelphia) assay Reid's coins and their value was seven per cent below denominational value: Excerpt from "No Assayer's" newspaper article: "The value of Mr. Reid's coins may be estimated as follows: $10 pieces $9.38; $5 pieces $4.69; $2.50 pieces $2 and 34 cents."Because of "No Assayer's" vindictive newspaper articles throughout the mining district and nearby towns and cities, Reid closed shop and returned to his former business of producing cotton gins, rifles and time piece repair. Reid died August, 1851. No newspaper, publishing one or more of "No Assayer's" articles, ever checked out "No Assayer's" accusations and statements. After the United States Mint opened in Dalonega, Georgia, some gold coins of Templeton Reid were assayed. Even though the coins were thinner than the gold coins minted at Dalonega, they were found to contain more gold than the mint's coins because Reid's fineness was higher than the mint's. Templeton Reid's gold coins are scarce to unique because many miners who exchanged their unrefined gold with Reid became suspect of them and included them along with their raw gold shipments to the United States Mint at Philadelphia. Thought might enjoy... Clinker
Another fine job, Clinker. I visited the site of Templeton Reid's mint a few months ago. Check out my thread: Templeton Reid Mint - First Private Mint in US
Thanks to randygeki, Hobo, mat, daggarjon and LostDutchman for reading, commenting and for the link Hobo provided... Clinker
