(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-445A-1a, Geo. D. Riegel OH

Coin Details

Description

Geo. D. Riegel, a Laurelvill merchant, issued this Civil War store card during the 1862-1864 coin shortage. Ohio produced more varieties of Civil War store cards than any other state, driven by Cincinnati's role as the largest inland city and a Union Army supply hub. Geo. D. Riegel issued 8 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 445A-1a) is common. 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. 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 8 cataloged varieties, Geo. D. Riegel was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 445A-1a