(1863) Civil War Store Card F-055-C-1a, Beaver Dam; Redfield/1194 WI

Coin Details

Description

Merchant token from Beaver Dam; Redfield/1194 of Wisconsin, cataloged as Fuld 055-C. Wisconsin was a growing frontier state with Milwaukee as its largest commercial center, and its merchants issued tokens as practical solutions to the coin shortage. The dies for merchant tokens were usually cut by professional engravers who could produce a complete set in a matter of days. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. The federal government's response to the coin shortage included issuing fractional currency in denominations as small as three cents, but these paper notes wore out quickly and were unpopular with merchants. Many Civil War tokens survive in high grades because merchants and the public saved them as novelties, resulting in a better average preservation than contemporary federal coins.

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, Beaver Dam; Redfield/1194 was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 055-C