(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-105F-1a, A.M. Duburn NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$156 MS63BN 05-29-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

Merchant token from A.M. Duburn of New York, cataloged as Fuld 105F-1a. New York state generated the second-largest body of Civil War token issues, concentrated in New York City but extending to Albany, Troy, Buffalo, and smaller commercial centers. This copper striking (Fuld 105F-1a) is common among the known varieties. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. Token production during the Civil War represented the largest private coinage movement in American history, with an estimated 25 million pieces struck between 1862 and 1864. The cent-sized format was chosen deliberately to match the federal Indian Head cent, the coin most conspicuously absent from daily commerce.

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 6 cataloged varieties, A.M. Duburn was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 105F-1a