(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-500R-1a, Steer & Bowen IN

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of Steer & Bowen, located in Kendallville, Indiana. Indiana was an important agricultural and manufacturing state, with merchants producing store cards as emergency currency when federal coinage was hoarded. With 2 known varieties, Steer & Bowen produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 500R-1a) is common for this merchant. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. George and Melvin Fuld's catalog remains the standard reference for Civil War tokens, with each variety assigned a unique identification number.

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 2 cataloged varieties, Steer & Bowen was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 500R-1a