Branch Mint of the United States, Charlotte N.C. Mint Certificate for "a DEPOSITE FOR COINAGE of GOLD BULLION." Issued June 27, 1840 for $412.35. Signed by John H. Wheeler as Acting Treasurer. Very Fine.Offered is a rare Gold Bullion Mint Certificate for the Charlotte branch of the United States Mint. It is a fully accomplished form, dated and issued for conversion of gold bullion into "Gold Coins of the United States." Printed form, uniface on white bond paper, without imprint. 21.0cm by 12.5cm. Within pattern border on four sides: Top center, federal eagle styled as on Second Bank of the United States notes. Left end, scroll lathe with MINT CERTIFICATE outlined. Titles, texts, and blank lines across. Block lower left for denomination numerals and signature position lower right. Signed by John H. Wheeler. No. 116 and endorsed on the blank verso. This is a rare certificate and United States Mint document. Some normal folds and minor splits, but overall quite attractive. Included is a small color print of the Treasury in Washington. Not in the John J. Ford XX sale or the 1999 Stacks Americana sale, which also contained much of Fords fiscal paper sold prior to the Ford Collection series. The Wheeler background offers a fascinating connection to North Carolina history, along with ties to William Walker and the American Abolitionist movement. All these events were part of the groundswell leading up to the Civil War.pJohn H. Wheeler was a significant North Carolinian of the period. His position at the newly founded mint created during this gold rush was due to ties to Andrew Jackson. Wealthy and influential, Wheeler later became a Washington, D.C. political figure during the Pierce administration, including as Minister to Nicaragua. Notoriously in context with our present day views of interventionist history, he was minister when we recognized the William Walker junta as the legitimate government there in 1855. Walker issued rare military scrip and eventually found the least desirable table setting at a firing squad when he decided to return there in 1860. As a slave owner, Wheeler found great notoriety at home. He had an impressive library of great literature including slave narratives of the period such as emUncle Toms Cabin/em. Having some relations with his female slaves, he also had them educated. Two of those women escaped to the North under different circumstances. One, Hannah Bond (pseudonym Crafts), was educated very well in the Wheeler household. She wrote a book, hidden until this century, authenticated, and published in 2002. This may be the first book written by an African-American woman in the United States. While heading for posting in Nicaragua, Wheelers slave Jane Johnson sought asylum in Pennsylvania where she was protected by abolitionists and taken off the departing ship. She eventually moved to Boston with her children.pFrom the Q. David Bowers Collection.
