Christopher Bechtler

In the record (6)

1. 1830

   Christopher Bechtler Sr., his son Augustus, and a nephew also named Christopher — German metalworkers from the Grand Duchy of Baden who had first settled in Pennsylvania in 1829 — arrived in Rutherford County, NC in 1830.

   Augustus Bechtler

   Source · checked 2026-08-14

2. 1831

   Christopher Bechtler personally designed and fabricated all of the hand-operated coining equipment used at his private Rutherfordton mint, and stamped his coins with their weight in gold and place of origin — practical marks of authenticity that helped the privately minted coins circulate as trusted currency across the southern gold region.

   Bechtler Mint

   Source · checked 2026-08-14

3. 1831 · 1831-07-01

   By July 1831, Christopher Bechtler Sr. and his family — German metalworkers who had settled near Rutherfordton, NC in 1830 — were striking privately minted $2.50 and $5.00 gold coins at their shop on Hollands Creek, roughly 3.5 miles north of Rutherfordton.

   Source · checked 2026-08-14

4. 1832

   In 1832 Christopher Bechtler began striking $1.00 gold coins at his private Rutherfordton mint — the first gold dollar coin produced in the United States, predating the U.S. Mint's own gold dollar by more than two decades.

   Charlotte Branch MintBechtler Mint

   Source · checked 2026-08-14

5. 1839

   Over the first nine years of operation, Christopher Bechtler's private mint coined approximately $2,241,840 in gold coin and melted (fluxed) an additional $1,384,000 worth of bullion, without any federal charter — a private-mint contrast to the government-run Charlotte Branch Mint operating in the same era.

   First United States Branch Mint (site)Charlotte Branch MintCharlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center

   Source · checked 2026-08-14

6. 1842

   Christopher Bechtler Sr. died in 1842; family members continued operating the private Rutherfordton mint, coining gold until the late 1840s.

   Bechtler Mint

   Source · checked 2026-08-14