1831 C. Bechtler Five Dollar Gold Piece - No 150 Grains, Beaded

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This C. Bechtler five-dollar piece (Kagin K-14) has a beaded border and states its fineness, 20.CARATS, but not its weight. Christopher Bechtler, a goldsmith and watchmaker born in Pforzheim in Baden in 1782, came to the United States in 1829 and set up a private mint in Rutherford County, North Carolina (Wikipedia); Greysheet dates his first coins to June 1831. The pieces carry no year of issue. They name the maker and state their weight in grains and their fineness in carats, and the Mint found C. Bechtler five-dollar pieces between one and six percent below their stated value, three percent on average, and his dollars worth 95 to 97 cents (Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 1850). Before the federal standard for gold was lowered in 1834, Bechtler worked to the old weights: 150 grains of 20-carat gold for five dollars and 30 grains for a dollar (Dickeson, after Eckfeldt and Du Bois; Greysheet). Its legends read 5 DOLLARS. 20.CARATS.* NORTH CAROLINA GOLD. and RUTHERFORD COUNTY. * C.BECHTLER, ASSAYER. Greysheet reports two known, one in the Smithsonian Institution, and that the dies were later altered to add 150.G., producing K-15. Catalogue numbers: K-14. PCGS number 10121.

Rarity Notes

R-8 (Greysheet)

Cross References

K-14