Templeton Reid Georgia Gold (1830)
A Milledgeville, GA, jeweler and gunsmith, Templeton Reid, saw the opportunity to be in the gold industry and decided to try his hand at striking coins from Georgia-mined gold. Reid set up a minting facility and designed three different denominations of private gold coins. To gain acceptance he mimicked the United States Mint’s designs and struck coins in $2.50, $5.00 and $10.00 denominations. Reid’s coins were weighed accurately, but he did not correctly assay the Gold used, and the intrinsic value did not match the face value. Reid was savaged by the press and closed his mint after a short time. The coins were created in $2.50, $5, and $10 denominations, and only about 1,600 are known.
So Reid’s $10.00 Gold Eagles did not contain $10.00 worth of pure gold. Rather, they contained $9.38 worth of pure gold. His $5.00 and $2.50 gold coins were similarly “short.” It is believed that this was oversight. To determine the precise specifications of native gold, a sophisticated analytical method is required. In the 1830s, this was generally done in a laboratory, and Reid had neither a laboratory nor the ability to conduct this assay.
Coin Details
The Quarter Eagle ($2.50) coin’s obverse had the date “1830” as the central vignette with the words “GEORGIA” and “GOLD” around the periphery. The reverse of these coins had the denomination in the center, “2.50” with “T. Reid” above and “ASSAYER” below.
He struck about 1,000 Quarter Eagles, accounting for the vast majority of the coins that survive to this day. Many of his coins were melted after the controversy had ruined his reputation as a coin assayer and minter.
The design of his $5.00 Half Eagle varied slightly from that of his Quarter Eagle. The obverse featured the denomination in the center, “$ 5” with “GEORGIA GOLD” around the upper periphery and the date “1830” at the bottom of the obverse.
The reverse was again unimaginative. The denomination “$ 5” was also the central vignette on the reverse. Around the periphery were the words “TEMPLETON REID ASSAYER”. A bit more than 300 of these coins were struck, but only seven examples are known to still exist today.
(1830 Templeton Reid Georgia Gold Five Dollars Obverse [left], Reverse [right].)
The Gold Eagle was originally struck with about 300 coins, and there are two reverse designs. The coin pictured is one of the two designs known. The obverse has the date “1830” in the central portion with “GEORGIS GOLD” above and below the denomination around the periphery.
The reverse has the denomination spelled out in two lines at the center, “TEN DOLLARS” with “TEMPLETON REID” above and “ASSAYER” below. Only six of these specimens are known. There is an even scarcer version that omits the date from the central portion of the obverse, of which there are only three known.
(1830 Templeton Reid Gold Eagle)
Templeton Reid California Gold (1849)
In 1849, Gold fever swept the United States following the discovery of a large gold deposit at Sutter’s Mill in California. Eventually, two private gold coins, one a $10.00 denomination and the other a $25.00 Gold coin, surfaced with the name “TEMPLETON REID” on them, just as they did in Georgia. There are also some later pieces marked CALIFORNIA that were struck in 1849.
Coin Details
The obverse of the $10.00 Gold coin has the denomination “TEN DOLLAR” in two lines at the center of the coin. Around the periphery of the obverse is “CALIFORNIA GOLD” with each word separated by a six-pointed star. The reverse has the date “18 49” widely separated in the center, with “*TEMPLETON REID* ASSAYER” around the periphery, using the same six-pointed stars as on the obverse.
Reid also struck a large $25.00 denomination gold coin. This coin was simply designed, as were all of his coins. The obverse has a dollar sign “$” and the denomination in Roman numerals “XXV” near the top of the coin, and the date “1849” near the bottom of the obverse. Around the periphery of the obverse is “ * TEMPLETON REID * ASSAYER”. Separating his name and title are two small stars.
The reverse of the coin features a compass design in the center, with “TWENTY-FIVE” and “DOLLARS” surrounding it. Around the upper periphery is “CALIFORNIA” and on the lower periphery is “GOLD”.
(1849 Templeton Reid $25 Coin Obverse [left], Reverse[right].)
These two coins were of lower gold purity than his Georgia gold coins. Reid had estimated that they were .893 Fine while the U.S. Mint stated that their purity was .871. There is only one known sample of both of these magnificent coins. The $10.00 coin is in the National Collection at the Smithsonian. The $25 Gold coin was stolen from its home in the United States Mint’s Cabinet Collection in 1858 and has never been recovered.
Historical Significance & Numismatic Value
Reid’s Gold pieces were the first private gold issues created in the 19th century. Ephraim Brasher’s Gold doubloons were private U.S. Gold issues, but they were created during the 18th century. The Templeton Reid pieces are extremely expensive, with the small $2.50 pieces going for well over a hundred thousand dollars in low grades. The high-grade, no-date $10 piece can fetch over a million dollars.
The only known example of the $10 coin is in the Smithsonian, and the only known example of the $25 coin was stolen from the U.S. Mint in 1858 and was never recovered. Expand your collection today with these historic coins and shop our assortment of rare coins and currency.
