(1861-65) Copper Civil War Store Card F-220A-3a, GW-601, John Engel NJ

Coin Details

Description

Civil War-era store card from John Engel, an Elizabeth, New Jersey business. New Jersey was a vital industrial and transportation state, with Newark, Trenton, and Paterson as major manufacturing centers where merchants issued Civil War tokens. John Engel issued 5 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 220A-3a) is common for this merchant. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. The Fuld catalog documents thousands of distinct die combinations for Civil War store cards, making this one of the most complex series in American numismatics.

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 5 cataloged varieties, John Engel was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 220A-3a