(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-150G-1a, Ira Brown IL

Coin Details

Auction Record

$200 MS62BN 05-02-2024 eBay

Description

Fuld 150G-1a — store card of Ira Brown, Chicago, Illinois. Chicago's explosive growth as a railroad and commodity trading center made it Illinois' primary source of Civil War store cards. With 4 known varieties, Ira Brown produced a modest number of token types. This copper striking (Fuld 150G-1a) is common among the known varieties. Many Civil War tokens share common reverse dies, as die sinkers paired merchant-specific obverses with stock patriotic or advertising reverses. 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. 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 4 cataloged varieties, Ira Brown was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 150G-1a