(1861-65) Copper Civil War Store Card F-560A-1a, New York Store CT

Coin Details

Auction Record

$80 AU55BN 09-21-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Merchant token from New York Store of Waterbury, Connecticut, cataloged as Fuld 560A-1a. Connecticut was a major arms manufacturing center, with Colt in Hartford and Winchester in New Haven. Its merchants issued tokens alongside the munitions output. With 3 known varieties, New York Store produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 560A-1a) is common for this merchant. Professional die sinkers like John Stanton, Benjamin True, and William Bridgens supplied dies to merchants across the Northern states. The Civil War small change crisis generated the largest private coinage movement in American history, with merchants and die sinkers producing tokens for circulation. 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 3 cataloged varieties, New York Store was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 560A-1a