(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-530E-1a, Kellogg & Co. MI

Coin Details

Auction Record

$360 MS62BN 11-18-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

Kellogg & Co., based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. With 4 known varieties, Kellogg & Co. produced a modest number of token types. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 530E-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 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 4 cataloged varieties, Kellogg & Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 530E-1a