(1861-65) Copper Civil War Store Card F-985A-1a, E.W. Hall NY

Coin Details

Description

E.W. Hall of New York produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. New York was the nation's commercial capital, with New York City alone producing hundreds of store card varieties from Broadway retailers to waterfront wholesalers. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 985A-1a) 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. Merchants in border states faced particular challenges during the coin shortage, as economic uncertainty and military activity disrupted normal commercial patterns more severely than in the interior. Surviving specimens are tangible artifacts of the wartime monetary crisis that affected every commercial transaction in the Northern states.

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 2 cataloged varieties, E.W. Hall was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 985A-1a