(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-45A-5a, F.J. & J. Palmer's MI

Coin Details

Auction Record

$288 MS65BN 10-28-2020 Heritage Auctions

Description

Fuld 45A-5a — store card of F.J. & J. Palmer's, Atlas, Michigan. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. F.J. & J. Palmer's issued 7 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 45A-5a) is common for this merchant. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Merchant-issued tokens circulated as substitutes for scarce federal coinage throughout the Northern states between 1862 and 1864. Merchants in border states faced particular challenges during the coin shortage, as economic uncertainty and military activity disrupted normal commercial patterns more severely than in the interior. After Congress banned private coinage in 1864, surviving tokens became instant collectibles, with serious collecting beginning within a decade of the war's end.

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 7 cataloged varieties, F.J. & J. Palmer's was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 45A-5a