(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-860B-1a, Blowney & Johnson IN

Coin Details

Auction Record

$144 VF30BN 09-21-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Fuld 860B-1a — store card of Blowney & Johnson, South Bend, Indiana. Indiana was an important agricultural and manufacturing state, with merchants producing store cards as emergency currency when federal coinage was hoarded. With 3 known varieties, Blowney & Johnson produced a modest number of token types. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 860B-1a) is common. Many Civil War tokens share common reverse dies, as die sinkers paired merchant-specific obverses with stock patriotic or advertising reverses. 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 3 cataloged varieties, Blowney & Johnson was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 860B-1a