(1861-65) Copper Civil War Store Card F-450H-3a, E.C. Keating MI

Coin Details

Description

E.C. Keating, based in Hillsdale, Michigan, produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. With 4 known varieties, E.C. Keating produced a modest number of token types. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 450H-3a) is common. Many Civil War tokens share common reverse dies, as die sinkers paired merchant-specific obverses with stock patriotic or advertising reverses. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. 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. With 4 cataloged varieties, E.C. Keating was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 450H-3a