(1863) Civil War Store Card F-055-C-1a, Beaver Dam; Warren/1220 WI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card issued by Beaver Dam; Warren/1220 of Wisconsin. 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. Die sinkers produced these tokens on hand-operated screw presses, often filling orders for multiple merchants simultaneously. The Civil War small change crisis generated the largest private coinage movement in American history, with merchants and die sinkers producing tokens for circulation. Die sinkers in major cities competed fiercely for merchant orders, offering stock reverses that could be paired with custom obverse dies featuring the merchant's name and business information. 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, Beaver Dam; Redfield/1194 was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 055-C