Christopher Bechtler
Christopher (originally Christian) Bechtler (* 1782 in Pforzheim ; † 1843 in Rutherfordton , North Carolina ) was a goldsmith and precision mechanic of German origin. He became famous and rich during the American gold rush through his business idea of melting mountain and wash gold into standardized dollar coins with a precisely defined metal content. He thus introduced gold standard dollar coins , which were only adopted and minted by the American government a long time later. Bechtler dollars are coveted collectibles to this day.
Training and testing of a gold panning machine
Bechtler had learned the goldsmith and watchmaking trade in the newly opened manufactory in Pforzheim. After sparse gold finds in scouring sand from the Stubensandstein in neighboring Sternenfels , he applied for a gold panning concession and carried out a large-scale experiment in Sternenfels in 1818. However, the yield remained minimal. Nevertheless, Bechtler applied for a patent for the machine for panning for gold in the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1819. In 1829 he emigrated to America via New York with his wife, two sons and a nephew. Probably in the course of the first gold rush in the American South, he migrated to North Carolina with a stopover in Philadelphia, where he had run a watchmaker's workshop in 1830.
Private manufacture of dollar gold coins
In the States he was not known for the gold panning machine but for his knowledge as a jeweler and coin maker. Bechtler recognized that gold dust and nuggets were rather inadequate as a medium of exchange, received a license and offered to produce gold coins with a value of $ 1, $ 2.50 and $ 5 with a precisely defined weight and gold content for a fee. Compared to other coin manufacturers, Bechtler stood out for its high level of reliability and accuracy.
His private mint in Rutherford County, North Carolina was operated by Bechtler and his successors from 1831 to the 1850s. Until the establishment of state coins in Georgia and North Carolina in 1838 and the minting of the first official dollar gold coins in Philadelphia in 1849 , Bechtler had a quasi-monopoly on gold standard dollar coins. According to Bechtler, more than a million gold coins were minted between 1831 and 1841, which today are worth several thousand paper dollars as collector's items .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gold rush in Sternenfels 1818 ( Memento from February 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ COINS; An Honest Man And His Gold Dollar, By JED STEVENSON, NYT September 12, 1993
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bechtler, Christopher |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bechtler, Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American goldsmith and precision mechanic |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1782 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pforzheim |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1843 |
| Place of death | Rutherfordton , North Carolina |