(1863) Civil War Store Card F-225-D-5d, Detroit; Blindbury's/1069 MI

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 225-D — store card of Detroit; Blindbury�s/1069, Michigan. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Merchant-issued tokens circulated as substitutes for scarce federal coinage throughout the Northern states between 1862 and 1864. The Act of April 22, 1864 effectively ended private coinage by imposing penalties of up to five years imprisonment and a $2,000 fine for producing unauthorized coins or tokens. Museum collections of Civil War tokens, including those at the American Numismatic Society and Smithsonian Institution, provide important reference specimens for attribution and provenance research. Over 25 million Civil War tokens were produced before Congress ended private coinage in April 1864, making them the largest private coinage movement in American history.

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 19 cataloged varieties, Detroit; Adderley/1069 was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 225-D