(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-630AG-1a, John P. Gruber NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$264 MS65 04-26-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Fuld 630AG-1a — store card of John P. Gruber, New York. New York was the nation's commercial capital, with New York City alone producing hundreds of store card varieties from Broadway retailers to waterfront wholesalers. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 630AG-1a) is common for this merchant. Merchants typically ordered tokens from die-sinkers who maintained inventories of patriotic and advertising dies for rapid production. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. 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. After Congress banned private coinage in 1864, surviving tokens became instant collectibles, with serious collecting beginning within a decade of the war's end.

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 45 cataloged varieties, John P. Gruber was a substantial producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 630AG-1a