(1861-65) Copper Civil War Store Card F-454A/0a, Uniface

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,320 MS63BN 09-21-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War token cataloged as Fuld 454A/0a, combining obverse die 454 — a patriotic or political design — with reverse die 0 bearing a uniface (one-sided) design with a blank reverse. Civil War tokens were privately struck cent-sized pieces that circulated as emergency currency during 1862-1864, when wartime hoarding drained federal coinage from commerce. Struck in copper, the standard metal for Civil War tokens chosen because cent-sized copper pieces passed as substitute federal cents in everyday commerce. This token bears no merchant identification; its dies were paired speculatively by die sinkers for sale to the general public rather than commissioned by a specific merchant. Bearing the date range 1861-65, covering the years of the wartime coin shortage. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, and the introduction of fractional currency notes and new bronze two-cent pieces gradually eliminated the need for emergency tokens.

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 1 cataloged varieties, Uniface was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 454A/0a