Adapted from article by Toby Adkins, Numismatic Scholar for currencyandcoin.com on Jul 30th, 2024:
The Charlotte Mint is relatively unknown to many coin collectors. It is a storied mint rich in history. Charlotte Mint coins are prized by Classic US coin collectors, and are relatively rare, with a short run (1838-1861) of small denomination gold coins – rare means pricey….so here’s the rest of the story:
Most people know about the California Gold Rush and the San Francisco 49’ers football team – named after the start of the gold rush in 1849. Most folks think it was the first gold rush in America but it wasn’t. The first US gold rush was in North Carolina.
As early as 1799, gold nuggets were found in North Carolina and by the early 1800’s the word got out. In fact, the very first documented gold mine in the United States is here. The rush was on. Unfortunately for the gold miners, the closest way to turn their gold into money was after a long, dangerous trip… to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia! In 1824 alone, over 2,500 ounces of gold were deposited in the Philadelphia Mint from North Carolina mining!
In 1828 gold was also discovered in Georgia and the Philadelphia Mint realized there was a problem. They needed gold to produce our Nation’s coins but there was just not a good way to move the gold to the Philadelphia Mint. So the answer? Don’t move the gold to the Mint, move the Mint to the gold! That’s just what happened. In 1835, three branch mints were authorized for construction and production. They were to be located in: Charlotte, NC – Dahlonega, Ga – and New Orleans, LA.
The Charlotte Mint would start striking coins in 1838 with a single “C” for their mintmark. Since this was a GOLD rush, Charlotte and Dahlonega only produced gold coins, most other mints have produced a variety of metals. The Charlotte Mint is also the only mint to coin just three denominations of coins – for immediate use, the $1, $2 1/2, and $5 coins made this most sense. Your common person was not using $10 or $20 coins prior to the Civil War.
The Charlotte Mint struck small amounts of coins up until 1861 when North Carolina seceded from the Union due to the Civil War. During the remainder of the Civil War, the Mint would be used as a Confederate military office and even a hospital. Later it was used as an assay office and also served as a Red Cross office during WW1. In 1931 it was slated to be demolished to make room for the new post office. It looked like the end of the Charlotte Mint. However, a group private citizens purchased the Mint structure from the U.S. Treasury Department and relocated the Mint structure in 1935. It was turned into the Mint Museum of Art and today has a full collection of Charlotte Mint coins.
Due to the rarity of Charlotte-minted coins, they are prized by antique gold collectors the world over. The addition of the little “C” adds the historical value and the knowledge of how rare the Charlotte Mint’s coins have become. Now that you know “the rest of the story” maybe one day you will collect your own Charlotte coins.
