(1863) Civil War Store Card F-220-L-2a, Fond du Lac; Raymond/1168 WI

Coin Details

Description

Store card of Fond du Lac; Raymond/1168 in Wisconsin, struck during the 1862-1864 token era. 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 production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Store cards circulated as emergency currency after wartime hoarding removed federal coins from commercial channels. Civil War tokens circulated alongside postage currency, fractional currency notes, and encased postage stamps as substitutes for the federal coins that had disappeared from commercial channels. Token production peaked in 1863 when the coin shortage was most acute, with die sinkers working around the clock to fill merchant orders.

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-L