(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-530H-2a, Roberts & Hillhouse MI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of Roberts & Hillhouse, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. With 2 known varieties, Roberts & Hillhouse produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 530H-2a) 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. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. 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 2 cataloged varieties, Roberts & Hillhouse was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 530H-2a