(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-40B-3ao, Dean & Co. MI

Coin Details

Auction Record

$312 AU53BN 10-14-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

This Civil War token was issued by Dean & Co., operating in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan was a significant industrial state during the Civil War, with Detroit emerging as a major manufacturing center and merchants across the state producing tokens. The 17 cataloged varieties for Dean & Co. indicate a notable level of token production. This piece is an overstrike struck over a host coin, an 1863 Indian Head cent. Traces of the original design may be visible beneath the new impressions. 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. Surviving specimens are tangible artifacts of the wartime monetary crisis that affected every commercial transaction in the Northern states.

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. Overstrike varieties are generally scarcer than tokens struck on blank planchets, as they required sourcing and re-striking existing coins. With 17 cataloged varieties, Dean & Co. was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 40B-3ao