5497

1838-D $5 AU58 NGC. McCloskey 1-A, R.3. The discovery

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1838-D $5 AU58 NGC. McCloskey 1-A, R.3. The discovery
<B>1838-D<$5> AU58 NGC.</B></I> McCloskey 1-A, R.3. The discovery of gold in the North Georgia mountains was really more of a gradual recognition that the region contained significant amounts of gold. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto visited the region in the early 1540s to seek gold. Evidence exists that Indians panned for gold in the early 1800s. As early as 1819, white fortune-seekers panned for gold near the Cherokee town of Sixes. The first official mining operations date from 1828 or '29. By 1830, the region was producing several hundred ounces of gold a day, and Auraria (Latin for "city of gold"), just south of Dahlonega, became a boomtown almost overnight. The gold discoveries--most of them on Cherokee land--culminate in the Trail of Tears, the forced march of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma, some 1,000 miles away, during the fall and brutal winter of 1838-39.<BR> The branch mints established in Charlotte and Dahlonega were strictly devoted to the production of gold coins for local circulation. And indeed, most of the C- and D-mint coins did circulate widely, so that some of these mintmarked pieces are unknown, or nearly so, in Mint State. The present issue is a case in point. Although NGC has graded more than 100 pieces of this issue, the vast majority are AU58 or below. This piece has attractive greenish-gold surfaces, with much luster remaining, and minimal, grade-consistent light abrasions. A popular issue, both for the Classic Head design and the obverse mintmark. Census: 19 in 58, 16 finer (7/06).