There's Gold in them there hills......

Hi All,

About a week late in posting this entry, but attached are a few pics of the trip.

Visiting Dahlonega was certainly worthwhile. Of note, the Gold Museum now houses a complete Dahlonega Gold collection in addition to a great collection of scales and other mining tools, pics and memorabilia.

The complete Dahlonega gold set was housed in what appeared to be a customized Capital Display holder. Visitors could photo everything in the museum with the exception of this display.

In scoping out the visit, I had read that there was also a historical marker for the mint which I was found, it resides near the current administrative building of North Georgia College which sits on the original mint building site. Fire had destroyed the mint building in 1878, and all that remains of the original structure are some block walls in the basement rooms.

Prior to the visit, our friend Coin928 mentioned he had picked up a copy of "The Neighborhood Mint" and sure enough the museum had the book , and as a nice bonus, they also had the new 3rd addition of Douglas Winter's "Gold Coins of the Dahlonega Mint". Throw in a tee shirt for my wife Susan and that was an easy sale.

Speaking of numismatic reading, I invite all to check out my offerings of Auction Catalogs and the huge Labor Day Sale I am running this weekend in the Numismatic Marketplace. Knowledge is the key to this hobby, and these catalogs provide plenty of research material, lots written by Q. David Bowers. There are all sorts of denominations covered, from Colonials to Bust, Liberty Seated and Barbers, to Gold including Dahlonega and Charlotte issues, to World coins, Treasure Gold from the Brother Jonathan, and more, lots of great collections from catalogs in the 1990s. Most have the accompanied sell price listing, a great benchmark for pricing.

Another highlight was that the museum has a 20+ minute documentary film, and it was exceptional, with great info on the history of the region and the gold rush of the 1830's. .

My numismatic collection takeaway will be to try and add one Dahlonega gold to my collection down the road, which will fit well in my Somerville 19th Century with Gold Type set. They are all relatively pricy but I can see adding a AU $2.50 Qtr Eagle maybe the 1844D or 1846D or possibly the $5 Half Eagle also AU maybe a 1847D or 1848D as reasonable targets. You can really feel the history when visiting Dahlonega with the coins coming to life adding to their collectability and charm.

Other Dahlonega notes: 1- we stayed at the Holiday about a mile out of town and it was very nice, 2- visited one of the local wineries and that was fun, 3- also in middle of town was an old time ice cream parlor, couldn't resist a root beer float. Finally lots of antiquing if you like that plus lots of good eateries and of course loads of southern hospitality. Didn't do the mining tour ( wine ALWAYS wins ) so certainly lots to do.

The next day, before taking a flight back to NJ we were able to fit in and visit Stone Mountain, and so glad we did. Towering 400 feet above the ground, the granite Memorial carving of Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson is visually amazing. The carving is simply majestic, the photos are from probably 450 yards or so as we didn't have time to photograph from a closer distance. Stone Mountain is probably 30 minutes or so outside Atlanta and an amazing park that I could easily spend more time enjoying.

I have owned the 1925 Stone Mountain Commemorative on more than one occasion, will definitely now purchase again, this time at high grade , minimum MS-66.

In closing, I find that visits to places like Dahlonega and Stone Mountain vividly reinforce the history of our country and, as numismatists, the linkage to our coins It has been a great 1st summer in retirement from a travel perspective, 1st the New Hampshire White Mountains and the site of where the Old Man of the Mountain once resided, then this trip. I definitely will need to close this aspect of touring America out by visiting Mt Rushmore in the not so distant future.

Attached are a few photos.

Cheers !

Rich

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