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Gold Fever and the Bechtler Mint
GuzziSport
Posts: 213 ✭✭✭✭✭
Apologies if this PBS video has been previously shared, but I found it interesting and wanted to share. Love the historical background of these fascinating coins.
https://www.pbs.org/video/gold-fever-and-bechtler-mint-gold-fever-and-bechtler-mint/
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Thanks for posting this.
I remember when that originally aired back in 2012. It got me to thinking that as a NC resident, I ought to have at least one Bechtler coin. This is the coin I finally bought in 2017. Looked at a $5 piece this past weekend at the Raleigh show, but didn't pull the trigger (a $17k coin).
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
I just watched it. Awesome production!
Makes me wanna hit the road and check out the region.
So much to see in this great nation…
Thank you for posting. Go Heels!
Awesome video. Here’s a gold dollar made by Augustus Bechtler that I have in my collection. Somewhere I have a little itty bitty nugget that I found by panning at the Reed Gold Mine. They have a big pile of dirt out by the creek in front of the mine that they let you pan. I think I was the only one in the group that found anything when a bunch of us from the Charlotte Coin Club went there for a visit when I was living in Charlotte 20 years ago
I was also on a committee that assisted Jamie Franki in designing and producing these Bechtler medals
Mr_Spud
Cool stuff, @Mr_Spud …. I’d love to pan there, what a great experience. Here’s my one and only, at least for now:
@GuzziSport: you know I love your Bechtler! Here’s mine (again):
PCGS AU58
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
PCGS Registry: Screaming Eagles
Copperindian
Retired sets: Soaring Eagles
Copperindian
Nickelodeon
Ditto! Great coin @Copperindian They’re very cool, and sadly for me, further specimens like a nice $5 are likely out of reach.
@Cameonut i really like that N reversed dollar… !
One of my favorite “old friends”, I would love that coin as a 62. Gold sticker from me
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The Bechtler’s minted $2.5 million dollars worth of coins in $1, $2.5, and $5 denominations so they minted a lot of coins. I’m guessing they minted around million coins and if there’s a 10% survival rate there’s 100,000 Bechtlers out there.
Well, considering that there’s less than 2,000 known Bechtler survivors known today, I think there might be a rounding error somewhere in those calculations…. 😅
Founder- Peak Rarities
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Here are two:
End Systemic Elitism - It Takes All of Us
ANA LM, LSCC, EAC, FUN
Whoops!
I didn’t know how many survivors there are. The minimum number of coins they minted has to be 500,000 if they only minted $5 coins and the maximum would be 2,500,000 coins if they only minted dollar coins so the number minted would have to be somewhere in the middle.
Assuming they actually did mint $2.5 million dollars worth of coins the survival rate has to be very very low somewhere in the order of 0.01 to 0.05 percent.
Seems unlikely to me that a “mint” of that size would have produced a million+ coins, even over their multiple years in production.
I wonder how many of these were melted over the years (the horror!!! 😩)
Many of the Bechtlers I see here in NC have problems - not sure how many of those are out there.
The PCGS pop report lists 1090 in Good thru MS
Plus another 10 including cams and dcams! I never knew there were proofs, much less cameos!
I don't see a listing of the details coins.
The NGC pop report has 698 in Good thru MS
Plus 20 in Proof
And 363 in details holders
Thats a grand total of 2,181 plus those in PCGS details holders and others.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
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What an interesting account. Bechtler was an admirable man. Thanks for posting.