1830 $5 Templeton Reid (Regular Strike)

Templeton Reid: Pioneer of Private Gold

Born in Greene County, Georgia, Templeton Reid was the son of Alexander Reid, a Revolutionary War patriot who settled in the area with his four brothers between 1786 and 1792. The elder Reid was a prominent local figure, operating a ferry, a gristmill, and a slaveholding plantation.

Early Career and Engineering

Reid initially established himself as a machinist, manufacturing cotton gins in Putnam County. By 1813, he moved to the Georgia capital of Milledgeville, where he rebranded as a watchmaker and repairman under the firm T & E Reid (partnering with his brother, Elisha). His technical expertise extended to civil engineering; from 1814 to 1817, he participated in a public works project aimed at making the Oconee River navigable. Demonstrating his broad mechanical aptitude (and his entrepreneurial spirt), Reid also operated as a jeweler and gunsmith between 1811 to 1828.

The Georgia Gold Rush

Reid’s most enduring legacy began in the early summer of 1830 in Lumpkin County. Exploiting the local gold rush, he struck the first private-issue gold coins denominated in United States dollars. He issued denominations of $2.50 (#10320), $5.00 (#10323), and $10.00 (#10326), all of which are legendary rarities today.

Reid's 1830 coinage shares a stark epigraphic aesthetic. While the three denominations feature distinct obverse layouts, they are unified by several key design elements: a prominent annular inner border, the peripheral inscription "GEORGIA GOLD" (punctuated with periods on the $2.50 and $5 pieces), and the date "1830." On the $5 coin, the denomination is centered on both the obverse and reverse. The $2.50 coin is characterized by elongated denticles that extend more than halfway from the rim to the inner circle. The reverse of each denomination bears Reid's identying mark, stylized on the $2.50 as "T. REID ASSAYER."

Reid’s minting career was short-lived. Following the publication of a scathing (and likely exaggerated) letter in the Georgia Courier claiming his coins were underweight, Reid lacked the social capital to defend himself, and a wave of public distrust effectively shuttered his mint. Beyond the bullion value, critics questioned whether Reid’s operation violated the United States Mint’s constitutional monopoly on coinage. By 1832, the controversy forced Reid to abandon minting; he returned to Putnam County to reside with Elisha and resumed his trade making cotton gins.

Texas and Legal Decline

In 1839, Reid sought a fresh start in the Republic of Texas. He applied for a patent for an improved cotton gin brush—the sixth patent ever granted by the nascent republic—and partnered with John Cornick & Co. of Houston to manufacture and sell the design.

Despite his ingenuity, Reid’s later years were defined by financial instability. Upon returning to Georgia, he was beset by legal troubles. In 1839, he was arrested and forced to post bail over an unpaid promissory note. Throughout the early 1840s, both Reid brothers faced a battery of lawsuits from creditors, including R.H.L. Buchannon and John B. Peabody. These legal battles culminated in 1847, when Reid's property was liquidated to satisfy his debts.

Final Years and a Resumption of Coinage

Reid continued to market his cotton gins until his death on August 5, 1851, following an accidental fall. His body was found on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. Earlier, in 1849, he had attempted to revive his private mint as news of the California Gold Rush swept the nation. This second venture was short-lived; only two specimens from this effort are known to exist. Both dated 1849 and sent to the Philadelphia Mint for assay in 1850.

The first, a $10 gold piece, retains Reid's classic 1830 aesthetic but incorporates idiosyncratic design changes: a beaded border replaces his signature flat annular ring, a six-pointed star precedes Reid's name on the obverse, and two similar stars flank the words "CALIFORNIA GOLD." Notably, these stars are not aligned on a level plane, reflecting the hand-punched nature of die. Furthermore, the denomination is curiously rendered as "TEN DOLLAR" rather than "TEN DOLLARS."

The second, a $25 gold piece, is even more eccentric. It features a six-pointed star preceding Reid's name and an unusual obverse denomination rendered with a double-stroke dollar sign as "$XXV." The reverse centers a rosette between the words "TWENTY-FIVE" and "DOLLARS."

Critically, the $25 specimen was found to be approximately 2% underweight. Following their examination, both coins were transferred to the Mint Cabinet. In 1858, the $25 piece was stolen from a display in the Philadelphia Mint lobby and never recovered; no other examples of Reid’s 1849 coinage have ever resurfaced. Today, the $10 piece resides in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, alongside a copper electrotype of the missing $25 rarity.

Templeton Reid's obituary appeared in the Columbus Times the day of his passing. Today, the man who struck Georgia's first gold coins and pioneered private coinage in the United States lies in an unmarked grave at Linwood Cemetery.

Collecting the 1830 Templeton Reid $5 Gold Coin

Of the three Templeton Reid denominations, only the $2.50 gold piece is "collectible" in the sense that auction appearances occur with enough regularity for a patient buyer to secure an example. By contrast, a collector might wait a lifetime for the opportunity to acquire the $5 or $10 denominations.

Six examples of the 1830 Templeton Reid $5 are known, two of which are permanently impounded in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution. While PCGS has certified two examples in AU grades, both are held in long-term private cabinets with no recent public auction history. A third specimen—a raw example previously graded PCGS XF40 and linked to the storied Clifford-Kagin Collection—was recently in the possession of a veteran East Coast dealer.

The final traceable example, certified as "PCGS Genuine," shows evidence of severe past mishandling. This piece realized $204,000 in a 2019 Stack’s Bowers sale after failing to meet a $290,000 reserve the previous year. Given the insatiable demand for high-grade Pioneer gold rarities, the finest known specimens of this denomination will likely surpass the $1 million threshold if they haven’t done so already via private treaty.

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