Q.David Bowers
Toward the end of 1847 Templeton Reid was the defendant in two court cases. Early in 1850 he received a warrant which was levied on "all the tools and material in the workshop of Templeton Reid," in favor of Seaborn Jones. In his studies of Reid's coinage, Dexter C. Seymour relates that Reid's place of business was mentioned in a report to the city council, and in May 1849 his name appeared on the monthly list of mail unclaimed at the Columbus Post Office. Reid's name did not appear on the June 1849 list, which indicates that the unclaimed mail must have been picked up by Reid or an agent sometime toward the end of May.
On March 25, 1851, the Columbus Times reported that Templeton Reid had manufactured a number of items to be exhibited at the World's Fair in London. Included were a model cotton gin in a small mahogany box elegantly finished. Also seen by the newspaper reporter were some examples of his silversmith work. "We wish the old gentleman a pleasant voyage to and from the 'Crystal Palace' and a high price for the specimens of his art," the report concluded.
Reid's name never appeared on the official list of exhibitors at the Great Exhibition, and it is believed that he did not go there. He died in the same year, and his obituary was carried in the Columbus Times on August 5th:
FOUND DEAD. We are pained to state that Mr. Templeton Reed [sic], one of the oldest citizens of Columbus, and a man far advanced in years, was found dead this morning near the river, in the lowest part of the city. There is a spring near the spot, and it is surmised that in attempting to reach it, he fell down the bank which is high and steep and being too much hurt to seek relief, he expired before morning.
Mr. Reed was in many respects an extraordinary- man. His genius as a mechanic was of the first order. His skill was equal to his inventive powers. He was a capital artificer in wood and in the metals. His business was that of a gin maker, and his machines have long engaged a high celebrity. His industry was as untiring as his genius was fine. Yet, like so many bright spirits who have gone before him, he failed to accumulate much of this world's goods. Mr. Reed has left behind him many friends, who valued his excellent and kindly qualities of heart, and we'll remember him as one of those good but eccentric men, who was his own worst enemy.
In 1849 two of Templeton Reid's gold coins, each bearing an imprint of California, and of the denominations of $10 and $25, carne to the United States Mint at Philadelphia. The $25 is presently unaccounted for as it was never recovered following its theft from the Mint Cabinet on August 16, 1858.
Edgar H. Adams, in Private Gold Coinage of California, 1849-1855, noted that "judging by the meager information available in relation to the Reid issue, it would almost seem as if Reid never reached California," yet the assayers indicated that the gold in the first two coins which reached the Mint indicated all the peculiar qualities which distinguished the precious metal mined in California. When Moffat & Co. wrote on January 28, 1850, defending their right to strike private coins (in San Francisco, California) they pointed to Templeton Reid; s coining establishment in Georgia in 1830 as an illustration of the legality of such issues. It referred to Reid, "who formerly conducted the assay office in Georgia," but did not make the slightest allusion to the fact that when they wrote, or shortly before (in 1849) Reid had been engaged in the conduct of a similar business in California.
Dexter C. Seymour has written the opinion that Reid never went to California in 1849. To have done so by the most expeditious means would have required a month or two of travel by the Isthmus of Panama and the sea route in each direction, plus time actually spent in California. Reid at that time was affected by old age and suffered from rheumatism and the after-effects of a broken thigh. Jacob R. Eckfeldt and William E. DuBois of the Philadelphia Mint stated that the two California pieces bearing the Templeton Reid imprint appeared to be made of California gold. If this was the case, it could be explained by Reid's having received some samples of California gold brought to him by a returning adventurer. Perhaps Reid produced the pieces in Georgia and contemplated moving to California at a later time. It remains a mystery why dies for two different denominations were made, not to overlook the efforts required to prepare planchets and to set up a coining press and other apparatus.
On the other hand; Templeton Reid, who is believed to have journeyed to Texas and who made numerous peregrinations around his home state of Georgia, may have joined the adventuring spirit and made a brief so-journ to California, returning soon after his arrival. This would explain his unclaimed mail.
Today the California-imprint coins of Templeton Reid remain a major numismatic mystery.
Bechtler Gold Coinage
During the 1830s the Bechtler family coined $2,241,850.50 worth of gold coins. Bearing the imprint CAROLINA GOLD or GEORGIA GOLD, depending upon the state in which the coinage metal originated, the pieces were produced in the denominations of $1, $2.50, and $5 from minting facilities in the Rutherfordton, North Carolina vicinity. Today, while Bechtler gold coins ate scarce; as a group they are among the most frequently encountered of all privately minted issues of the 19th century.
At one time during the early 19th century North Carolina was the primary gold-producing district in the states. From 1814, when $11,000 worth of gold was received; until 1824, the Philadelphia Mint received modest but continuous deposits of gold from the North Carolina region. During this time sums averaged not more than $2,500 per year. In 1825 the deposits jumped to $18,000, then to $20,000 in the year following, and then to $21,000 in 1827. In 1828 deposits of North Carolina gold jumped to $46,000, then to $128,000 in 1829. By 1831 the total had increased to $294,000.
On March 26, 1830, the North Carolina Spectator and Western Advertiser, published in Rutherfordton, noted:
A large number of new mines have been discovered in both this and Burke counties, and others which were sometime since declared of little value have proved to be rich and profitable tinder a system of preserving an intelligent operation. We have heard of few or none but which have produced one pennyweight to the hand even during the short, cold days of winter, and of many which have produced from 1 ½ to 2 pennyweights pet day to each hand employed and some much richer than this.
A mine of late has been discovered on the 2nd Broad Rivet, in the Burke County, on the lands of James Jeans; from which the amount of $2 per day has been washed with a pan, and is said to be as rich as any discovered in this neighborhood. It was immediately sold to Gen. Bryan for $4,500.