The Old New Orleans Mint
Henry Hatton Gird (III) was offered a position with the New Orleans Mint, one year after he retired from the College of Louisiana. West Point Military Historical Records
States that in 1845 Henry H. Gird (III) was appointed to "a situation in the New Orleans Mint". " He died on June 1st of that year in New Orleans".
Andrew Jackson strongly advocated the establishment of a mint in New Orleans, because he thought it would help to spur the development of the country's western frontier. In 1835 Andrew Jackson signed the bill, and construction began on the New Orleans Mint.
As the fifth largest city in the nation, and the largest in the South and West, New Orleans was also one of the busiest ports in the country because of the abundance of foreign trade.
Minting began in 1838 , one year before the building was completed. The architect, William Strickland, also designed the new Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the Second U.S. Bank, the Naval Home, and the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.
Strickland never came to New Orleans during, or prior to construction. This proved to be problematic, as the foundation for the building was ill-suited to the soil. Consequently, the Mint underwent massive repairs for structural flaws in the 1850's.
In 1861, Louisiana seceeded from the Union.; State authorities transferred the coinage operations to the Confederate States Army. In 1879, the New Orleans Mint resumed its function producing U.S. coins.
Minting in New Orleans ended in 1909 when it was determined that the Denver and San Francisco Mints could meet demand. All of the minting machinery was sent to Philadelphia.
This information taken from "The Coin Vault" - http://www.coinvault-at-the-mint.com/history.html
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In 1966 this National
Landmark Old Mint was transferred to the state and in 1981 opened
to the public as a State Museum site.
(504) 568- 6968
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This information comes from the AustinCoin Collecting Society:
The history of rare gold
coins is also the history of America. In 1795, the US Mint in
Philadelphia began striking gold coins to establish a sound,
uniform currency. America was on the Gold Standard and was valued
under $20 an ounce.
In 1803 when Napoleon sold the “Louisiana Purchase” for
$15 million, he demanded payment in gold coins. Likewise, Lewis
and Clark carried gold coins when they explored the west to the
Pacific.
Famous for French Culture, Paddlewheelers, and Coins
By 1812, Louisiana was admitted to the Union as a slave state.
That same year, Robert Fulton’s steam-powered riverboat made
the first successful trip down the Mississippi to arrive in the
city she was named for, New Orleans. Paddle wheelers soon lined
New Orleans’ harbor loaded with bales of cotton and other
goods bought with gold coins.
Western Expansion Gold Shortage
In 1830, New Orleans was the primary port of entry for expansion
into Texas and the wild west. During these days, there was an
acute shortage of hard currency in the form of U.S. gold coins.
By this time, the Philadelphia Mint was striking gold coins at
full capacity, yet unable to mint enough gold coins needed for
trade in a growing America. To resolve the gold coining problem
on the Western Frontier, Congress decreed that a new branch mint
be opened in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The New Orlean’s facility was clearly the most colorful of
all branch mints, having struck Legal Tender for the United
States, the State of Louisiana, and the Confederacy. Because
collectors search out coins with an interesting history or that
exhibit special credentials, collectors love coins with the
“O” mint mark from the famous New Orleans Mint.
Mint Strikes First Coins in 1838
The year was 1838. The gold strikes in Georgia, combined with the
wealth created on the Southern Plantations, kept the original
United States Mint in Philadelphia working at capacity.
The mint could not strike gold coins fast enough to keep up with
the demand for hard money. In those days, hard money was real,
minted in solid gold or silver. Unlike today’s paper money
that is backed only by a promise from the U.S. Government,
currency of the 1800’s was truly “worth it’s
weight in gold.” (And it still is today.)
The Coins That Got Away From Jesse James
As a result of the shortage of hard currency, Congress enacted
legislation to open its first branch mint in New Orleans.
The goal was to reduce the distance that gold had to be carried
from Georgia and western frontier gold mines. These were the
1800’s when the Apache Indians still controlled most of
Texas and outlaws like Jesse James were a serious threat to banks
and US gold shipments.
Put in perspective, New Orleans was a key port of entry from
Europe to the Southern States during the Wild West Days. It was
on the edge of the Western Frontier of the United States. Only a
few decades before the mint was opened, New Orleans was a part of
the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon and France.
Why Collect Pre-Civil War Era Coins?
When official operations began at the New Orleans Mint in 1838,
things were slow in getting started. Early mintages were quite
low due to the limited capacity of the older presses which had
been shipped in from the Philadelphia Mint.
Today, higher grade, Pre-Civil War, New Orleans gold coins are
among the most highly prized of all US rare coins. The original
mintages were very low and most of the coins were immediately put
into circulation at banks and quickly worn out.
In no time, the soft gold coin surfaces were worn down from
handling. Later, they were often removed from circulation and
melted down for their gold content.
A Great History and Unique Tradition
The next part of the New Orleans Mint story is clearly the most
fascinating for history buffs. At the outbreak of the Civil War,
the Confederacy needed money and fast in the form of gold coins
that would be accepted for trade in Europe.
In short, the Confederacy needed U.S. gold coins. In 1861, the
New Orleans Mint was seized by the State of Louisiana, and then
mint personnel were forced to strike U.S. coins using the
existing U.S. Mint presses and coin dies. Later that same year,
Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of
America, decreed that the mint in New Orleans strike coins for
the South.
As a result, 1861 dated coins were struck at the New Orleans Mint
by all three government entities–the Union, Louisiana and
the South. Sadly, from the point of view of collectors, it’s
impossible to tell the coins apart because they were all struck
from the same set of dies.
The New Orleans Mint struck gold coins in denominations from $1
to $20 gold pieces. In addition, it struck a variety of silver
coins including the famous Morgan Silver Dollars
This information taken from ©2001 Austin Coin Collecting
Society
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