BOOK REVIEW: GOLD COINS OF THE DAHLONEGA MINT, 3RD EDITION

I’m delighted to be able to say that I’ve just received my copy of the brand-new third edition of Gold Coins of the Dahlonega Mint: 1838-1861 by Doug Winter!

This, the third updated volume of Doug’s series of books on branch mint gold coins (following 2006’s Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909 and 2008’s Gold Coins of the Charlotte Mint: 1838-1861) is also published by Zyrus Press (www.zyruspress.com) and has been produced to the same high standards as the preceding books. Although it appears to be only available in softbound form, it is printed on heavy glossy paper and is chock-full of large high-quality color images, with many close-ups of mint varieties. The color images alone make it a worthy successor to the second edition!

The book is laid out in the same format as the New Orleans and Charlotte books, with each coin illustrated in color, a listing of its rarity ranking (both overall and in high grade) and sections discussing Strike, Surfaces, Luster, Coloration, Eye Appeal, Die Varieties, Significant Pieces Known, Auction Record and a breakdown of estimated survivors by Very Fine, Extremely Fine, About Uncirculated and Uncirculated grades.

At 280 pages, the third edition is about 40 pages longer than the second edition that was published in 2003. The book begins with a history of the Dahlonega Mint , a discussion of how to collect Dahlonega Mint coins, a completely revised chapter on die varieties (a “significant improvement” for which Doug credits the assistance of Brian Koller of Heritage Numismatic Auctions and Carl Lester of Gold Rush Gallery), my own two (modest) chapters on gold deposits at, and the officers of, the Dahlonega Mint, an overview of the Dahlonega Mint’s coins and, the real meat of the book, a chapter on each of the four denominations the Dahlonega Mint produced. In a feature that is new to the series, each denomination chapter is preceded by an Overall and Comparative Rarity Analysis which includes Doug’s latest comments on that denomination.

In a very nice touch, the book includes, on page 7, what I believe is still the only known photograph of the Dahlonega Mint, from 1877 when the building was the principal building of the North Georgia College. I still remember the thrill I felt in 1992 when I read Carl Lester’s description, in Bowers and Merena’s Rare Coin Review #89, of the re-discovery of the photograph!

This is the only place I've seen a copy of the book for sale so far: www.translinesupply.com/store/p/5268-Gold-Coins-of-the-Dahlonega-Mint-3rd-Edition.aspx

Wayne Homren, Editor

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web