(1863) Brass Civil War Store Card F-770B-2b, Morris & Messinger MI

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 770B-2b — store card of Morris & Messinger, Pontiac, Michigan. Michigan was a significant industrial state during the Civil War, with Detroit emerging as a major manufacturing center and merchants across the state producing tokens. With 2 known varieties, Morris & Messinger produced a modest number of token types. The brass composition of this variety (Fuld 770B-2b) is common to somewhat scarce for this merchant. Merchants typically ordered tokens from die-sinkers who maintained inventories of patriotic and advertising dies for rapid production. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. Brass was the second most common planchet material after copper, giving tokens a golden appearance. Surviving specimens are tangible artifacts of the wartime monetary crisis that affected every commercial transaction in the Northern states.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 2 cataloged varieties, Morris & Messinger was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 770B-2b