5 Dollars, Templeton Reid, United States, 1830
date: label: date made
content: 1830
name: label: maker
content: Reid, Templeton
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: One (1) 5 dollar coin
label: Description (Brief)
content: United States, 1830
label: Description (Brief)
content: Obverse Image: N/A
label: Description (Brief)
content: Obverse Text: GEORGIA GOLD. / $5
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reverse Image: N/A
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reverse Text: TEMPLETON REID ASSAYER. / $5
label: Description
content: Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until someone recognized it for what it was! Discoveries multiplied, and a federal branch Mint was eventually set up in Charlotte to process the metal into coinage.
label: Description
content: Discoveries in Georgia and North Carolina in the 1820s received wide publicity, and a "gold fever" resulted. Thousands of people began trekking to the areas in search of instant wealth. Most returned home empty-handed, but successful prospectors found millions of dollars' worth of precious metal. What should they do with their new wealth? Many felt the Philadelphia Mint was too far away for safe travel, and the government wasn't ready to create other coining facilities.
label: Description
content: A jack-of-all-trades named Templeton Reid had an answer: strike private gold coins, at a private mint. Reid had extensive experience as a watchmaker, gunsmith, and metalworker. In July 1830, he set up shop in the Georgia hamlet of Milledgeville, and began his brief career as private moneyer-the first since Ephraim Brasher.
label: Description
content: His coins came in three denominations: ten dollars, five dollars, and two and one-half dollars, in recognition of "official" denominations. And he put slightly more gold into his products than the federal government did into its coins, just to be on the safe side. Although historians believe that Templeton Reid conducted business fairly, an unknown adversary, signing himself simply "no assayer," published several notices in newspapers complaining that the coins were not as represented.
label: Description
content: Rumors spread and before long Reid was forced to close up the business.
label: Description
content: He apparently planned to go to California to participate in the gold rush there, and even made dies with a California imprint. However there is no record of his having made the trip West.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place of issue
content: United States: Georgia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Coins
label: See more items in
content: Numismatics
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content: Coins, Currency and Medals
label: See more items in
content: Legendary Coins
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Zoomable Image and Details
label: Related Publication
content: Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: United States Mint
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0357.0126
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0357.0126
label: accession number
content: 1991.0357
objectType: label: Object Name
content: coin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall metal)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis measurement)
label: Physical Description
content: struck (overall production method)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .1 cm x 2.4 cm; 1/32 in x 15/16 in