DAHLONEGA MINT GOLD COIN SET EXHIBIT

A complete 62-coin set of gold coins struck at the Dahlonega Mint that was assembled for the express purpose of one day being donated and put on public display will go on exhibit June 5 at the University of Georgia in Athens.

The collection of Dahlonega Mint gold coins is a major component of an extensive multi-gallery presentation on the history of gold and gold mining in Georgia, the production of gold coins in the Branch Mint of the United States at Dahlonega, and the evolution of currency in America, including paper money, with a focus on Georgia.

Katherine Stein, director of the university’s Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, said the exhibit will be staged in the Russell Building Special Collections Libraries at the university.

Stein said the exhibit — titled “Gold-digging in Georgia: America’s First Gold Rush,” — is based on the article “From Georgia to California and Back: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Southern Gold Mining” by Dr. Drew Swanson, published in a 2016 issue of Georgia Historical Quarterly, published by the Georgia Historical Society.

Collector John McMullan took less than 10 years to assemble the collection of Dahlonega Mint gold coins, which were produced at the facility between 1838 and 1861.

The 81-year-old McMullan dubbed his assemblage The Reed Creek Collection after the region of Georgia in which his father, Thomas Leverette McMullan, was born and raised.

Only gold coins were ever struck at the Dahlonega Mint, in $1, $2.50, $3, and $5 denominations.

McMullan said he began assembling The Reed Creek Collection as a tribute to his father with the Aug. 5, 2008, purchase of the first coin, the 1854-D Indian Head $3 coin.

McMullan’s father graduated circa 1919 or 1920 from the University of Georgia and upon graduation, took a job teaching agriculture in North Georgia College.

The former Dahlonega Mint building was used by the college from 1873 until it burned in 1878. A new building used by the college was subsequently erected on the foundation of the former Branch Mint structure.

For more information on the exhibit, see:
Gold-digging in Georgia: America’s First Gold Rush (www.libs.uga.edu/news/gold)

To read the complete article, see:
62-coin Reed Creek Collection prominent in June 5 to Dec. 5 exhibit (www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2017/05/collector-donates-dahlonega-gold-coins-for-exhibit.all.html#)

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