1849 Templeton Reid Gold Pieces

About This Coin

Templeton Reid, who had pioneered private gold coinage in Lumpkin County, Georgia in 1830, relocated to California during the Gold Rush and resumed minting in 1849, producing gold pieces ranking among the rarest territorial coins in American numismatics. His California issues are dramatically scarcer than his Georgia pieces, with only a handful of confirmed survivors across all denominations. A notable result of $8,600 in MS60 at Stack's provides one market data point, though rarer varieties command vastly greater sums. Reid's brief California operation reportedly produced $10 and $25 denominations bearing his name and gold fineness statement. His dual-coast minting career spans two great American gold discoveries: the Appalachian belt of the 1820s-1830s and the California Mother Lode of the late 1840s. Reid's coins from both periods document the private minting response to gold discoveries in regions far from federal facilities, where raw gold was abundant but coined money desperately scarce.