(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-765G-1a, D.A. Hall & Co. PA

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 765G-1a — store card of D.A. Hall & Co., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was the Union's industrial heartland, with Philadelphia as a manufacturing center and Pittsburgh as an iron and steel producer. With 2 known varieties, D.A. Hall & Co. produced a modest number of token types. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 765G-1a) is common. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Store cards circulated as emergency currency after wartime hoarding removed federal coins from commercial channels. The coin shortage of 1862-1864 affected virtually every retail transaction in the Northern states, as hoarding removed silver and copper coins from circulation faster than the U.S. Mint could replace them. Collectors classify Civil War tokens by the Fuld numbering system, which catalogs each unique die combination with rarity ratings from R-1 (over 5,000 known) to R-10 (unique).

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, D.A. Hall & Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 765G-1a