1837 C. Bechtler Two and a Half Dollar Gold Piece - 75 Grains, Beaded

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This C. Bechtler quarter eagle (Kagin K-8) states its weight, 75.G., beneath the fineness 20.C. within a beaded border. 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). Greysheet reports that it was struck from late 1831 from the K-6 dies after the weight was added, with the reverse RUTHERFORD COUNTY. * C.BECHTLER, ASSAYER., and that the dies stayed in use for about two years. Catalogue numbers: K-8. PCGS number 10079.

Rarity Notes

R-H6 (Greysheet)

Cross References

K-8