1 Dollar - C. Bechtler

Christopher Bechtler, a German immigrant jeweler and gunsmith who settled in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, began striking private gold coins in 1831 to address a practical problem: the nearest U.S. Mint was in Philadelphia, hundreds of miles away, and local gold from the Carolina fields had nowhere useful to go. His coins circulated widely and were trusted enough that the federal government largely tolerated them for over a decade.

The Kagin #4 variety dates to the later production run under Christopher Sr., before operation passed to his son Augustus. Dies of this period show inconsistent spacing in the inscriptions — a known characteristic, not a defect.