(1863) Civil War Store Card F-070-A-1a, Beloit; Peck&Platt/1209 WI

Coin Details

Description

Beloit; Peck&Platt/1209 of Wisconsin issued this Civil War store card during the 1862-1864 coin shortage. 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 offered merchants a choice of metals, with copper being cheapest and most common, while silver and gold were struck for collectors. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. The coin shortage of 1862-1864 affected virtually every retail transaction in the Northern states, as hoarding removed silver and copper coins from circulation faster than the U.S. Mint could replace them. 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 1 cataloged varieties, Beloit; Peck&Platt/1209 was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 070-A