A merchant complains that his Bechtler coins were discounted at the Philadelphia Mint, Charlotte Journal

July 24, 1835

A merchant complains that his Bechtler coins were discounted at the Philadelphia Mint, Charlotte Journal, July 24, 1835, 3

Excerpt: Charlotte Journal, July 24, 1835, 3

Bechtler’s Gold Coins

Weighed in the balance and found wanting

As a public Journalist it becomes out duty to give notice, that a merchant of our Town carried sixteen of Mr. Bechtler’s stamped pieces of Gold to the Mint at Philadelphia and had them assayed. The result was that they were below the nominal value by fifteen cents on each piece: so that on a sum of eighty dollars the holder lost $2.40; exactly three percent. We do not know how to account for this; we have always regarded this old Gentleman as remarkably honest and well skilled in arriving at the proper value in his issues: as this business is important to him, and can only be lucrative so long as he comes up strictly to the correct standard, interest alone would dictate care as well as honesty. May it not be that the error is in the Mint itself? ––Carolina Watchman.