(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-10F-4a, F10Copper Trial Strike Elephantine Shoe Store NY

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 10F-4a — store card of F10Copper Trial Strike Elephantine Shoe Store, New York. New York was the nation's commercial capital, with New York City alone producing hundreds of store card varieties from Broadway retailers to waterfront wholesalers. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 10F-4a) is common for this merchant. Die sinkers offered merchants a choice of metals, with copper being cheapest and most common, while silver and gold were struck for collectors. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. The Fuld catalog documents thousands of distinct die combinations for Civil War store cards, making this one of the most complex series in American numismatics.

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 3 cataloged varieties, F10Copper Trial Strike Elephantine Shoe Store was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 10F-4a