(No Date) Brass Civil War Store Card F-150BD-1b, P. Stumps IL

Coin Details

Auction Record

$384 MS63 11-18-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of P. Stumps in Illinois. Illinois was a critical Union state with Chicago rapidly becoming one of America's largest commercial centers, driving token production across the state. Struck in brass, this die combination (Fuld 150BD-1b) is common to somewhat scarce. Civil War tokens rarely bear dates. This piece was struck during the 1862-1864 coin shortage, when merchants needed emergency small change. 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 brass composition gives this token a warm golden tone that contrasts with the reddish-brown of copper strikings.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 1 cataloged varieties, P. Stumps was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 150BD-1b