(1863) Copper Civil War Store Card F-920A-2a, West Jefferson Wms Co. OH

Coin Details

Description

Civil War-era store card from West Jefferson Wms Co., a West Jefferson, Ohio business. The breadth of Ohio's Civil War token production reflects the state's diverse economy, from Cincinnati's river trade to Cleveland's Lake Erie shipping to interior manufacturing towns. With 4 known varieties, West Jefferson Wms Co. produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 920A-2a) is common for this merchant. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. The Fuld catalog documents thousands of distinct die combinations for Civil War store cards, making this one of the most complex series in American numismatics.

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 4 cataloged varieties, West Jefferson Wms Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 920A-2a