(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-900A-1a, I. Allen & Son MI

Coin Details

Auction Record

$192 AU Details 09-21-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War-era store card from I. Allen & Son, a Schl.craft, Michigan business. Michigan was a significant industrial state during the Civil War, with Detroit emerging as a major manufacturing center and merchants across the state producing tokens. With 3 known varieties, I. Allen & Son produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 900A-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. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. 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 3 cataloged varieties, I. Allen & Son was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 900A-1a