(1863) Civil War Store Card F-220-F-2a, Fond du Lac; Lowell/1089 WI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of Fond du Lac; Lowell/1089 in 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. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. The token era ended when Congress authorized new federal small-denomination currency and criminalized private token production in 1864. 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. 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 8 cataloged varieties, Fond du Lac; Alling/0016N was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 220-F