(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-520B-1a, C.W. Leavens & Co. WI

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 520B-1a — store card of C.W. Leavens & Co., Neenah, Wisconsin. Wisconsin was a growing frontier state with Milwaukee as its largest commercial center, and its merchants issued tokens as practical solutions to the coin shortage. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 520B-1a) is common for this merchant. Die sinkers produced these tokens on hand-operated screw presses, often filling orders for multiple merchants simultaneously. Federal coinage vanished from circulation after 1861 as citizens hoarded silver and copper for their metal value, leaving merchants to fill the void with tokens. Some token dies were used so extensively that late strikes show significant die wear, providing collectors with a chronological sequence of the production run from fresh to deteriorated states. The Fuld catalog documents thousands of distinct die combinations for Civil War store cards, making this one of the most complex series in American numismatics.

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, C.W. Leavens & Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 520B-1a