(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-750D-1a, Baltz & Stilz PA

Coin Details

Description

Civil War-era store card from Baltz & Stilz, a Phila, Pennsylvania business. Pennsylvania was the Union's industrial heartland, with Philadelphia as a manufacturing center and Pittsburgh as an iron and steel producer. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 750D-1a) 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. Merchant-issued tokens circulated as substitutes for scarce federal coinage throughout the Northern states between 1862 and 1864. Merchants in border states faced particular challenges during the coin shortage, as economic uncertainty and military activity disrupted normal commercial patterns more severely than in the interior. Civil War store cards are collected both as numismatic items and as historical documents of wartime American commerce.

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, Baltz & Stilz was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 750D-1a