181 Years Ago Today Dahlonega Mint Strikes First Coins

JJSingleton

On April 17, 1838 the United States Branch Mint at Dahlonega Georgia minted their first coins. Yours truly, Joseph J. Singleton - Superintendent recorded that David H. Mason - Coiner minted 80 Half Eagles. The local town folk called them "shiners" as they had never seen such newly minted gold coins before. Maybe the one below was one of them.

In celebration post some Dahlonega Mint historical facts or lore. And of course, post your D-Mint coins.

jabba

I don’t have one but that one is awesome

BryceM

I have but one, but I like her quite a bit:

JJSingleton

@BryceM

Super nice original piece, exactly the way I love them.

RogerB

Here's a page from the Dahlonega die shipment book beginning 1839. I don't have the data for 1838 although there is a reference about mid-page on the left. (The facing page has a very faint pencil annotation relating to 1838 dies, but quality of the original image is too poor to permit deciphering.)

Boosibri

Nice coins! That 38-D is ex Bass IIRC

Cameonut

Here is my D - type coin.

Ronyahski

Here are some passages from my upcoming book on Classic Gold:

The Dahlonega Mint opened on February 12, 1838 for the receipt and assay of gold bullion despite the fact that Reverend Few had still not been to the mint. By the end of the month there were 932 ounces of gold on hand being refined, but silver and copper needed to be purchased for the gold alloy. Singleton had to send to Charleston to purchase copper bolts used in shipbuilding, as it was preferable to any that could be obtained locally. Thus, the first coinage was delayed.

Joseph J. Singleton was the Dahlonega Mint's first Superintendent. The other principal operators were Dr. Joseph Farnum as Assayer and Melter, and David Hastings Mason the Coiner, a wood engraver from Philadelphia who had been making dies for the Philadelphia mint.

Eighty half eagle gold pieces were minted on April 17, 1838. Superintendent Singleton reported to Philadelphia that, "You may possibly consider it presumptuous in me to say that I believe our coin equal to any made in the world both for its beauty and accuracy in its legal parts."

Singleton himself deposited much of the gold used to coin the first Half Eagles, and they were distributed in the community before assay approval came from Philadelphia.

The Mint building had not been completed; the roof leaked, the walls were not properly supported and cracked. To make things worse, the floor beneath the steam presses buckled, nitric acid used for parting was in short supply, the rollers used to make planchets were too soft, the water pump to supply water to the working floor was not operational, and equipment for the coiner had not yet arrived from Philadelphia. Petty quarrels were also common amongst the principals. Yet the 1838-D Classic half eagle was beautifully made.

CharlotteDude

My one and only...

JJSingleton

@Ronyahski

That pretty much sums up what was going on at the time. Your comment regarding Singleton depositing the gold for the first 80 is new to me. Can you tell me your source?

Walt_Altmen

Never knew Dahlonega had a mint. Too cool.

RogerB

A common point of contention between officers of the three southern mints was who was entitled to live in the residential apartment.

asheland

My humble but very appreciated single example:

BillJones

Here is my 1838-D half eagle. I was quite lucky to get a chance to add this piece to my collection.

RogerB

Are all 1838 eagles incomplete or ratty ? The D reverse looks as if the engraver forgot to finish the wings.

Walt_Altmen

@RogerB said:
A common point of contention between officers of the three southern mints was who was entitled to live in the residential apartment.

Love it!

skier07

This is one of my favorites, ex RYK

tommy44

@asheland said:
My humble but very appreciated single example:

What's not to like. It's gold, it's from Dahlonega, our host straight graded it and JA thinks it's solid for the grade assigned. I like it a lot.

asheland

@tommy44 Thank you!

QE Guy

1841-D NGC AU55 CAC

BillJones

@RogerB said:
Are all 1838 eagles incomplete or ratty ? The D reverse looks as if the engraver forgot to finish the wings.

Are you referring to the right wing? I've always considered the 1838-D half eagle to be equal in strike quality with its Philadelphia Mint counterparts for just about any year.

Here are three reverses.

This is an well struck, pretty close to P-L 1836 reverse.

Here the reverse of an 1838-P

And the 1838-D I posted earlier.

BillJones

Here is an example of the 1839-D Quarter eagle which was the first $2.50 the Dahlonega Mint made. From what I've read, the personnel at the Dahlonega didn't like making quarter eagles because they had trouble setting up the press.

RogerB

Yep...but not the individual mint's fault. Kneass' eagle looks like he's molting or got in a fight and lost.

BillJones

1838 was the last last year for that $5 gold design, and Gobrecht probably figured it was not worth the effort to refurbish a design punch that was headed for the scrap heap.

OnTheHunt

Not the best image, but here is the full set located at the Dahlonega Gold Museum, picture taken with permission.

Winchester1873

1855-D $5 Large D PCGS AU58 CAC.

LJenkins11

Some really nice pieces in here. Thanks for sharing.

ilmcoins

@asheland said:
My humble but very appreciated single example:

Love it

JJSingleton

And here is one of the last coins struck at the Dahlonega Mint. The 1861-D Dollar is also known as the "Confederate Dollar" as we know all were struck while the mint was under Georgia/Confederate control.

spacehayduke

ex-Spacehayduke Collection

Winchester1873

@spacehayduke - stunning coins and photography!! It’s coin porn (can I say that and not get kicked off the forum??!!)

Ronyahski

@RogerB said:
Yep...but not the individual mint's fault. Kneass' eagle looks like he's molting or got in a fight and lost.

That is mostly because the 1838-D half eagle dies suffered damage early in production and the reverse dies were heavily polished to minimize it. Much detail was lost. It was not from a clash. The reverse die was polished before the obverse, and only a small percentage of coins were struck with no polishing evident on either die.

Though I am trying to give Kneass an out, the eagle still could've used another feather or two in the design.

ricko

Great thread... I do not have any Dahlonega gold... but they sure do look nice....Maybe I should convert some of my stack to a D gold coin... Cheers, RickO

johnny9434

Nice coin. Some day I'll get one along with a charlete

RogerB

There was evidently confusion about the status of the Dahlonega Mint as late as mid-March 1861. That region of Georgia, as well as much of Appalachia, was opposed to slavery and resisted initial efforts by states to appropriate federal property.

"Mint of the United States,
Philadelphia,
March 19, 1861

Hon. Salmon P. Chase.
Sec. of the Treasury
Washington City
Sir,
I enclose a requisition from the Superintendent of the Branch Mint at Dahlonega, Georgia, for twenty three hundred dollars, payable out of the balance of the appropriation made for the support of that institution. With this requisition I received from the Supt. the usual monthly statements and reports, and also the coins reserved for the annual assay for the month of February. It thus appears that, notwithstanding the revolutionary proceedings in the State of Georgia, the branch mint at Dahlonega continues to recognize itself as a branch of the Mint of the United States, and complies with the laws, and with the regulations, prescribed for the transaction of its business. This being the case I have deemed it proper to approve the requisition made by the Superintendent, and respectfully recommend that a draft for the amount asked for, on the Assistant Treasurer U.S. at Charleston S. C. be sent to the Superintendent.

I take this occasion to call your attention to my letters of the 18th and 23rd ulto., respecting the operations of the branch mint at New Orleans. I respectfully suggest to you, whether it is not desirable that some official announcement should be made of the fact that the coin of that institution was not the lawful coin of the United States; and also whether some effort should such be made to retrieve the coining dies which were heretofore provided for that branch of the Mint.

I have the honor to be,
With great respect,
Your faithful servant,
James Ross Snowden.
Director of the Mint.

RG104 entry 216 vol 21

RogerB

Were the 1861-D dollars made after April 8, 1861?

"April 30, 1861.
to: Hon. Salmon P. Chase.

On the 8th of April (inst) the branch mint at Dahlonega ceased to be conducted under the
authority of the United States, having been seized by orders of the Governor of Georgia. And now we have similar information as to the branch at Charlotte. Thus all the branch mints in the Southern States have practically ceased to be branches of the principal mint, and, being conducted in an unlawful manner, the coins issued therefrom are not the lawful coins of the United States. In my communications of the 18th and 23rd of February last I made some recommendations on this subject to which I beg to call the attention of the Department. The views then expressed now apply to all the branches above named. In my opinion it would be proper that a proclamation should be made, declaring the Coins of 1861, issued by the above named revolutionary and illegal mints, to be no longer the lawful coins of the United States; and that they are therefore not a legal tender in the payment of debts. These coins, as indicated in a former communication, may be known by the Mint Mark below the Eagle, or the wreath, on the reverse side of the pieces: the letter O indicating the branch at New Orleans; D Dahlonega; C Charlotte."

asheland

I'm loving this thread!

BillJones

There was evidently confusion about the status of the Dahlonega Mint as late as mid-March 1861. That region of Georgia, as well as much of Appalachia, was opposed to slavery and resisted initial efforts by states to appropriate federal property.

It might be more accurate to say that they were opposed secession. There certainly were people though out the South who opposed slavery, and some them were concentrated in specific regions, but I’m not sure that you can say that northern Georgia was controlled by abolitionists.

RogerB

Folks in Northern Georgia and Appalachia were not abolitionists in the sense used in New York or Boston. They objected to slavery because slaves took work away from local people. During the off-season, slave owners, including Ga's senior Senator, rented their "property" to mine owners. This severely limited demand and pay for the labor of free men and women. This depressed local and regional economies that were built on free immigrant populations.

Many Georgians were redeemed indentured servants and must have remembered difficulties of their own servitude -- although nothing like the prevalent slave situation.

Ronyahski

@BillJones said:
Here is an example of the 1839-D Quarter eagle which was the first $2.50 the Dahlonega Mint made. From what I've read, the personnel at the Dahlonega didn't like making quarter eagles because they had trouble setting up the press.

They had trouble calibrating the striking pressure of the larger steam toggle press for the smaller quarter eagle. Also, they clashed the dies from the start, as all 1839-D quarter eagles have die clash marks, as well as a cracked reverse die.

Dahlonega was essentially forced to strike the quarter eagles. Mint Director Patterson refused their request to continue striking 1838 half eagles into the 1839 calendar year. The newly designed Coronet half eagle dies were not received until early April 1839. Gold deposits piled up, so quarter eagles were struck starting in February and through the date the new half eagle dies arrived. Only half eagles were minted for the rest of the year.

The quarter eagles were not popular with the public either. As of August 1840, eighteen months after they were first struck, all of the 1839-D quarter eagles sat in the branch mint's safe.

RogerB

Getting C and D gold into circulation was a considerable problem. Neither area had a vibrant economy and Dahlonega was literally a backwater. The Treasury created a bullion fund for each mint but it was kept at Philadelphia. This allowed mine owners to deposit gold at the closest mint, get a receipt, then receive the coins in Philadelphia at the miner's convenience. (Patterson did not like this approach which meant the government had to ship coins from C & D north to get them into circulation.) This was much safer than getting local C and D coins, and miners had a real city in which to spend their money. Goods were then shipped back south.

This left the two isolated gold-only mints struggling with assay, refining and manufacture responsibilities, but no place for their coins to go.

earlyAurum

Here are my two D coins. The 39-D is ex Spacehayduke courtesy of DWN.

Boosibri

kaz

I'm really enjoying reading the historical information in this thread!

BillJones

The 1852-D is graded AU-55.

mrcommem

A few goodies from my collection

JJSingleton

@mrcommem - Great looking 39-D Five. Tougher date than most realize. And I'm a huge fan of obverse mint marks.

skier07

asheland

@skier07 said:

I love that one!!!

Winchester1873

@mrcommem - looks like a very nice 1839-D $5, Winter Variety 1-A ("D over 3” obverse) - a scare bonus!!

mrcommem

@stevenwalden said:
@mrcommem - looks like a very nice 1839-D $5, Winter Variety 1-A ("D over 3” obverse) - a scare bonus!!
I bought this coin from DWN It has an almost proof-like surface to it so it shows every little nick.

The 49 is a former RYK coin. The picture doesn't do the coin justice. Its the most beautiful Dahlonega coin I have ever seen.