(1861-65) Civil War Store Card F-165-AO-6a, F-OH-165-AO-6a Cincinnati; Ferguson/1068 OH

Coin Details

Description

F-OH-165-AO-6a Cincinnati; Ferguson/1068 of Ohio produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Ohio produced more varieties of Civil War store cards than any other state, driven by Cincinnati's role as the largest inland city and a Union Army supply hub. Die sinkers offered merchants a choice of metals, with copper being cheapest and most common, while silver and gold were struck for collectors. Private tokens entered circulation after the suspension of specie payments in late 1861 drained small change from commerce. Civil War tokens circulated alongside postage currency, fractional currency notes, and encased postage stamps as substitutes for the federal coins that had disappeared from commercial channels. After Congress banned private coinage in 1864, surviving tokens became instant collectibles, with serious collecting beginning within a decade of the war's end.

Rarity Notes

Copper strikings are generally the most common metal variant for Civil War store cards, as copper was the standard planchet material mimicking the federal cent. Overstrike varieties are generally scarcer than tokens struck on blank planchets, as they required sourcing and re-striking existing coins. With 21 cataloged varieties, F-OH-165-AO-6a Cincinnati; Ferguson/1068 was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165-AO