1831 C. Bechtler One Dollar Gold Piece - 30 Grains, Reeded Edge

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This C. Bechtler gold dollar (Kagin K-1) states a weight of 30 grains and has a reeded edge. 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 30.G * RUTHERF: C.BECHTLER. and ONE N:CAROLINA GOLD DOLLAR. Greysheet places it from late 1832 or early 1833 to the middle of 1834, describes it as the earliest gold dollar coined in the United States, and lists one plain-edge piece from late dies as K-1a. Catalogue numbers: K-1. PCGS number 10064.

Rarity Notes

R-4 (Greysheet)

Cross References

K-1