(1861-65) Copper Civil War Store Card F-175S-9a, Geo. Worthington & Co. OH

Coin Details

Auction Record

$432 MS65BN 12-13-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Merchant token from Geo. Worthington & Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, cataloged as Fuld 175S-9a. Cleveland's position on Lake Erie made it a vital shipping hub for wartime goods, and its merchants participated actively in the Civil War token phenomenon. The 17 cataloged varieties for Geo. Worthington & Co. indicate a notable level of token production. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 175S-9a) is common. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. Many Civil War tokens survive in high grades because merchants and the public saved them as novelties, resulting in a better average preservation than contemporary federal coins.

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. With 17 cataloged varieties, Geo. Worthington & Co. was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 175S-9a