(1863) Civil War Store Card F-225-Q-4d, Detroit; Cohen/1069 MI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card issued by Detroit; Cohen/1069 of 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. Store cards circulated as emergency currency after wartime hoarding removed federal coins from commercial channels. Many Civil War tokens were produced in quantities far exceeding actual commercial need, as die sinkers and merchants recognized the speculative collecting interest that was already developing. The study of die states and die progressions in Civil War tokens has become an important research area, revealing production sequences and helping establish relative chronology of token issues. Collectors classify Civil War tokens by the Fuld numbering system, which catalogs each unique die combination with rarity ratings from R-1 (over 5,000 known) to R-10 (unique).

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-Q