(1861) Copper Civil War Store Card F-150AA-3a, Haas & Powell IL

Coin Details

Description

Haas & Powell, based in Chicago, Illinois, produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Chicago's explosive growth as a railroad and commodity trading center made it Illinois' primary source of Civil War store cards. With 3 known varieties, Haas & Powell produced a modest number of token types. This copper striking (Fuld 150AA-3a) is common among the known varieties. 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 cent-sized format was chosen deliberately to match the federal Indian Head cent, the coin most conspicuously absent from daily commerce.

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, Haas & Powell was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 150AA-3a