(1863) Civil War Store Card F-153a, Struck on 1837 1C Benjamin Franklin Patriotic Cent

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,020 AU58BN 09-21-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War token cataloged as Fuld 153a, featuring obverse die 153 — a portrait of Benjamin Franklin — with an overstrike on an 1837 Benjamin Franklin patriotic token. These privately manufactured tokens served as emergency coinage throughout the Northern states from 1862 to 1864, an entrepreneurial response to the wartime disappearance of federal small change. The absence of merchant information on this die combination places it in the Fuld catalog's Location Unknown section, among tokens produced as patriotic cent substitutes rather than as advertising pieces. Dated 1863, the peak year of Civil War token production when the coin shortage was most acute. New York City produced over half of all Civil War tokens, with additional output from Waterbury, Connecticut (center of the brass industry) and Cincinnati, Ohio.

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, Struck on 1837 1C Benjamin Franklin Patriotic Cent was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 153a