Charlotte Mint Coins

America's first gold rush

The first documented gold discovery in the United States happened in North Carolina in 1799, when a boy named Conrad Reed found a heavy yellow rock in Little Meadow Creek on his family's farm in Cabarrus County. The family used it as a doorstop for several years before learning it was gold. Reed's farm became the Reed Gold Mine and by the 1820s North Carolina was the leading gold producing state in the country.

Miners had few ways to turn that gold into money. Raw gold had to be carried to Philadelphia or traded at a discount. A private coiner, Christopher Bechtler, set up shop in Rutherfordton in 1831 and struck gold dollars, quarter eagles and half eagles from local gold. His coins circulated widely in the region and showed Congress there was real demand for a local mint.

Building the Charlotte branch

The Act of March 3, 1835 created the Charlotte branch mint. Its building, designed by William Strickland, was finished in 1837 and coinage began in 1838 with quarter eagles and half eagles. Charlotte was a gold-only mint: it never struck silver or copper coins. Gold dollars followed in 1849, after Congress authorized the denomination.

In July 1844 a fire destroyed much of the building. Coinage stopped while it was rebuilt and resumed in 1846, which is why there is a gap in Charlotte dates in the middle of the 1840s.

The Civil War and after

North Carolina seized the mint in 1861 and handed it to the Confederacy. Some 1861-C half eagles were struck from the remaining bullion after the takeover, which makes them a Civil War rarity. Coinage then ended for good. The Confederacy used the building during the war and it later worked as a federal assay office until 1913.

In the 1930s the building was taken down and rebuilt in a residential neighborhood of Charlotte, where it opened in 1936 as the Mint Museum, the first art museum in North Carolina.

The Charlotte gold dollars

Charlotte struck gold dollars in only eight years between 1849 and 1859. Every one is scarce. The 1849-C comes in two forms. The Closed Wreath version is collectible, while the Open Wreath version is one of the rarest US gold coins, with only a handful known. The 1855-C is the only Type 2 gold dollar from Charlotte, with the small Indian princess head. It is usually weakly struck.

Charlotte gold dollars were small coins made in a small mint, often from imperfectly prepared dies. Expect weak centers, uneven rims, rough planchets and clash marks. Specialists treat these as part of the character of the mint and do not penalize them the way they would on a Philadelphia coin.

Charlotte gold dollars use James B. Longacre's designs. Type 1 coins show a small Liberty head with a coronet, while the reverse carries the date and denomination inside a wreath with the C below it. Because the coin is only about 13 millimeters across, the mint mark is tiny and should be checked under a loupe.

What else Charlotte struck

Charlotte and Dahlonega are often collected together as the southern gold mints. They opened in the same year, struck mostly the same gold denominations and closed in the same year. Their coins share the same small mintages and uneven striking quality. Many collectors build sets that pair a Charlotte and a Dahlonega example of each available date.

Charlotte's output fell in the 1850s as North Carolina production declined and many miners left for California. Mintages of a few thousand gold dollars a year were common by the end, which is why the late dates are as scarce as the early ones.

Most of the mint's output went into quarter eagles and half eagles, which make up the bulk of surviving Charlotte coins. These are outside our catalog, which lists Charlotte's gold dollars only, but they follow the same pattern of low mintages and modest strikes.

Collecting Charlotte coins safely

The C mint mark sits on the reverse of the gold dollar, below the wreath. Every Charlotte coin is a target for counterfeiters, so buy only coins certified by a major grading service. Watch for coins that were used as jewelry, which often show solder marks, a filled hole or polishing at the rim. Original surfaces with natural color are much scarcer than cleaned ones and carry a clear premium.

Because so few Charlotte gold dollars exist, condition rarity matters more than mintage. Most survivors circulated in the Carolinas for years and show real wear. Gold dollars were the smallest gold coins in daily use and were easy to lose, so many simply disappeared from the record. A sharp, problem-free example in Extremely Fine or About Uncirculated condition is a realistic goal for most dates, while full mint state coins are seldom offered.

Frequently asked questions