Dahlonega Mint

2024-11-27T19:32:43Z

96.244.11.84: Add link to Historical Mints in See Also section

{{Short description|Former branch of the United States Mint in Dahlonega, Georgia}}
[[File:Dahlonega-Mint-1877.jpg|thumb|350px|Students at [[North Georgia College]] practice military drill in front of the former Dahlonega Mint in 1877 or 1878. The college used the building from 1873 until it burned down in 1878.]]
{{Coord|34.5299|-83.9871|display=title}}The '''Dahlonega Mint''' was a former [[Branch mint|branch]] of the [[United States Mint]] built during the [[Georgia Gold Rush]] to help the miners get their gold [[assayed]] and [[coining (mint)|minted]], without having to travel to the [[Philadelphia Mint]].<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|80–81,105}} It was located at (34°31.8′N 83°59.2′W ) in [[Dahlonega]], [[Lumpkin County, Georgia]]. Coins produced at the Dahlonega Mint bear the "D" [[mint mark]]. That mint mark is used today by the [[Denver Mint]], which opened in 1906, over four decades after the Dahlonega Mint closed. All coins from the Dahlonega Mint are gold, in the $1, $2.50, $3, and $5 denominations, and bear dates in the range 1838–1861.

==Creation==
The '''Mint Act of 1835''', established by the [[United States Congress]] on 3 March, established "one branch at the city of [[New Orleans]] for the coinage of gold and silver; one branch at the town of [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]]...for the coinage of gold only; and one branch at or near Dahlonega, in Lumpkin County, in the state of Georgia, also for the coinage of gold only."<ref name=Williams>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=David|title=The Georgia Gold Rush: Twenty-Niners, Cherokees, and Gold Fever|year=1993|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|location=Columbia, South Carolina|isbn=1570030529}}</ref>{{rp|107}}

[[Ignatius Alphonso Few]], appointed commissioner, bought ten acres south of Dahlonega for $1,050 (equal to ${{Inflation|US|1050|1835|fmt=c}} today) in August 1835, and hired the architect Benjamin Towns, the lowest bidder at $33,450 (equal to ${{Inflation|US|33450|1835|fmt=c}} today), to construct the mint within eighteen months. Mint machinery was installed in 1837, which included "cutting presses, a fly wheel, a drawing frame, a crank shaft, a coining press, and eighteen annealing pans." The coining press could make "fifty to sixty gold coins per minute."<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|107–108}}

Superintendent Dr. Joseph Singleton, opened the mint in February 1838. About a thousand ounces of gold were deposited in the first week, and the first coins consisting of eighty five-dollar gold pieces, were minted on 17 April.<ref name=Williams/>{{rp|108}}

==Production==
[[File:1843-D half eagle reverse.jpg|thumb|right|Reverse of an 1843 [[half eagle]] struck at the Dahlonega Mint]]
The mint produced coins every year from 1838 through 1861. Denominations produced included [[Gold dollar|$1.00]]; $2.50 ([[quarter eagle]]s); [[Three-dollar piece|$3.00]] (1854 only); and $5.00 ([[half eagle]]s).

==The Civil War==
When the [[American Civil War]] broke out in 1861, the Dahlonega Mint was seized by the [[Confederate States of America|Confederates]]. It is believed that after the Confederates took over the mint in 1861, that some gold dollars and half eagles were minted under the authority of the Confederate States Government. The exact number of 1861-D gold dollars produced is unknown, while approximately 1,597 1861-D half eagles were struck. Because of their relatively low mintage, all Dahlonega-minted gold coins are rare. It is generally accepted that gold coins estimated to exceed $6 million were [[Mint (coin)|minted]] here.

==Post Civil War==
After the end of the Civil War, The United States Government decided against reopening the mint. The building was unused until the founding of [[North Georgia College]] in 1873. The mint building was used as the main academic and administrative building for the college until a fire [[History of North Georgia College and State University|destroyed the original building]] in December 1878. A new building for the college was erected on the foundations of the old mint building. This building is now named Price Memorial Hall after [[William P. Price]], the founder of the college, and is still used by the college today.

[[Gold leaf]] from this area also covers the exterior of the domed roof over the [[Rotunda (architecture)|rotunda]] of the [[Georgia State Capitol]] in [[Atlanta]]. Local media often refer to the [[Georgia General Assembly|state legislature]]'s activities as what's going on "under the gold dome". After the capitol building was gold leafed citizens of Dahlonega began a campaign to gold leaf Price Memorial Hall after the same fashion as the capitol.

For other [[United States Mint]] facilities, see ''[[Historical United States mints]]''.

==Superintendents==
Six men acted as Superintendent of the Dahlonega Mint.<ref name="GGR">{{cite web |url=http://www.goldrushgallery.com/dahlmint/c_history_outline.html |title=An Illustrated History of the Georgia Gold Rush and the United States Branch Mint at Dahlonega, Georgia |last1=Lester |first1=Carl N |publisher=Gold Rush Gallery Inc |access-date=January 2, 2014}}</ref>
*Joseph Singleton, 1838–1841.<ref name="GGR" /> President [[Andrew Jackson]] nominated him for the position on December 19, 1836, which was approved by the [[United States Senate Committee on Finance]].<ref>{{cite book |author=United States Senate |title=Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States |year=1887 |volume=4 |page=584}}</ref>
*Paul Rossignol, 1841–1843<ref name="GGR" />
*[[James Fairlie Cooper]], 1843–1849<ref name="GGR" />
*Anderson Redding, 1849–1853<ref name="GGR" />
*[[Julius Patton]], 1853–1860
*George Kellogg, 1860–1861<ref name="GGR" />

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War|Architecture|Numismatics}}
*[[List of Mints]]
*[[Historical United States mints]]
*[[Charlotte Mint]]
*[[Denver Mint]]
*[[New Orleans Mint]]
*[[Philadelphia Mint]]
*[[San Francisco Mint]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Winter, Douglas "Gold Coins of the Dahlonega Mint" 1997. DWN Publishing

==External links==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=xfoF6DtQWfMC&pg=PA44 Dahlonega, A Brief History], by Anne Amerson
* [http://www.dahlonegagold.com/dghist.htm "A Brief History of the United States Branch Mint at Dahlonega, Georgia"], by Carl N. Lester
*[http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/dahlonega/ 'Thar's Gold in Them Thar Hills': Gold and Gold Mining in Georgia, 1830s-1940s] from the [[Digital Library of Georgia]]
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615044752/http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gahistmarkers/pricebldghistmarker.htm |date=June 15, 2012 |title=Price Memorial Building State Historical Marker }}
{{Commons category-inline}}{{US currency and coinage}}

[[Category:1837 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Georgia Gold Rush]]
[[Category:United States Mint]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Mints of the United States]]
[[Category:Lumpkin County, Georgia]]

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Dahlonega Mint