(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-780A-1a, J.M. Dale IN

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 780A-1a — store card of J.M. Dale, Plymouth, Indiana. Indiana was an important agricultural and manufacturing state, with merchants producing store cards as emergency currency when federal coinage was hoarded. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 780A-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. The coin shortage was exacerbated by the simultaneous withdrawal of gold and silver from circulation following the suspension of specie payments in December 1861. 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 1 cataloged varieties, J.M. Dale was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 780A-1a