(1865) Copper Civil War Store Card F-600A-1a, Miners Brewery & Bakery ID

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of Miners Brewery & Bakery in Idaho. Idaho Territory was remote and sparsely populated during the Civil War. Store cards attributed to Idaho are exceptionally rare. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 600A-1a) is common. Professional die sinkers like John Stanton, Benjamin True, and William Bridgens supplied dies to merchants across the Northern states. Federal coinage vanished from circulation after 1861 as citizens hoarded silver and copper for their metal value, leaving merchants to fill the void with tokens. Die sinkers in major cities competed fiercely for merchant orders, offering stock reverses that could be paired with custom obverse dies featuring the merchant's name and business information. The cent-sized format was chosen deliberately to match the federal Indian Head cent, the coin most conspicuously absent from daily commerce.

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, Miners Brewery & Bakery was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 600A-1a