Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1859-03-03
Aeaping.
COINAGE OF THE U. STATES.

COINAGE OF THE U. STATES.
The following communication (says the
Charleston Courier from a we'll informed
correspondent, on the "coinage of the United
States," will be read with attention and in.
terest by intelligent readers:
In an extract from lecture son the His,
tory of Commerce" published in the New
York Tribune, it is asserted, with some de-
gree of confidence, that "Germau named
Becbtler stamped money in North Carolina,
which was octualyprcterred, in Georgia and
the Carolina, to the Federal coinp
Some thirty years ago, when christopher
Bechtler began to stamp pieces of gold in
Rutherford, a mining district of North Car.
olina, his operations proved a great conve,
nience to the miners, the merchants and the
community, because there was very little Of
the coin of the United States to be foundin
the interior portions of Georgia or the Car.
olinas.
Templeton Reid pursued the same prac.
tice, with similar results, from the same
cause, in the mountains of Georgia.
Mr.. Bechtler was an ingenious guusmith
and jeweller, an useful and honest man, who
undertook to convert the grains of precious
metal washed from neighboring deposits into
stamped pieces, for local currency, with the
ordinary machinery used for boring rife bar.
rels, for rolling bars of steel and iron, OF
impressing certain ornamental devices upon
gun locks. His processes for melting, casting,
rolling, cutting and stamping his own name
and devices, with an assumed quality, weight
and value, were tolerably we'll arranged fo'
the purpose he intended. No branch mints
existed in Georgia or Carolina when he be-
gan to supply such tokens. In attempting
to decide the purity of gold of different
qualities, he employed the scales and karat
grain weights commonly used by goldsmiths
A difficulty was encountered in the pro
cesses of assay, which now require more del
icate management He was not able, by
the practice he pursued, to be SO exact, as
it is believed he desired to be.
Hence, upon the establishment of branch
mints, his coins were carried there, as bul
lion, for re.coinage, and to ascertain theil
true value. They were not found to hold
out to the full extent of his stamped decla
ration. The fneness impressed upon his
coins was not always reached, which neces.
sarily caused reduction in their value as
a commercial currency.
Mr. Bechtler used up large amount Of
gold before the branch mints were built, but
the decision they made upon the character Of
his stamped pieces, soon proved it was more
advantageous to the miners, and to the mer.
chants who dealt with them, to have bullion
converted into the more correct standard
coins of the United States. The convenien'
ces of the previous arrangements of Mr..
Bechtler were no longer appreciated, and
were at length gradually abandoned
The Bechtlers-for there was son ard q
nephew also engaged with the old man
we're very frank with an officer of the mint,
who visited their establishment. They showed
and explained their practices and machinery
quite freely to him. When it was remark.
ed to the elder Bechtler that one portion Of
the method he pursued occasioned error, he
exhibited instant desire to correct it.
Some of his latter coinages were rated
slightly above the assumed standard, al.
though previous ones had borne per cent
age below the declared limit. Federal coins
require strict adjustment by law, and are
proved by distinct annual trials. The at
tachment of fixed values to pieces of gold,
even by approximation, was of interest to
the miner in the South. Such tokens did
not interfere with the privileges of the mints
nor in any way with their operations, which
are calculated to control such action.
When the coins of the United States be-
gan to be known, and such conversion of
bullion at the mints was found most benefi-
cal to every interest connected with mining,
then the demand for Bechtler pieces began
to cease. For the cost of conversion devolv-
ed upon the Government; whereas, the mi.
ners were required to pay directly for Becht'
ler's operations 1t sometimes happens,
now, that wagner from the upper country
will prefer bank paper to coins, for conve'
nience of carriage aud from custom:
Another point in the lecture con the His
tory of Commerce" which declares "there
were no coins in Judea, until after the des.
truction of jerusalem" is also doubted, as
an historical fact, although it may be true
there was no national Hebrew Mint until
after that period.
Coinage is conv enience for the distribu
tions of trade, where gold and silver are
we'll known and attainable. But such pro-
cesses add nothing to the intrinsic values Of
the precious metals, andar expensive. Sew
eral Eastern nations are thoughtto to have dis
pensed with the practices of coinage, after
having employed them. The Chinese know
how to appreciate and proportion the values
of gold and silver by fueness and weights
as is always done at mints before the impres
s;ona GRO nlaoad nnon the nieoea The Chi