(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-510AM-1a, D. Stoffel WI

Coin Details

Description

D. Stoffel, a Milwaukee merchant, issued this Civil War store card during the 1862-1864 coin shortage. Milwaukee's thriving German-American merchant community made it the center of Wisconsin's Civil War token production. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 510AM-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. The token era ended when Congress authorized new federal small-denomination currency and criminalized private token production in 1864. The Act of April 22, 1864 effectively ended private coinage by imposing penalties of up to five years imprisonment and a $2,000 fine for producing unauthorized coins or tokens. 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. With 1 cataloged varieties, D. Stoffel was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 510AM-1a