(No Date) Brass Civil War Store Card F-735A-1bo, W.A. Aicher OH

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,680 AU58 09-02-2021 Stack's Bowers

Description

Store card of W.A. Aicher in Ohio, struck during the 1862-1864 token era. Ohio's extensive commercial networks across dozens of cities generated an unparalleled body of merchant token issues during the 1862-1864 coin shortage. This piece is an overstrike struck over a host coin, an 1863 Indian Head cent. Traces of the original design may be visible beneath the new impressions. This undated token was struck circa 1862-1864 during the wartime coin shortage. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Store cards circulated as emergency currency after wartime hoarding removed federal coins from commercial channels. Brass strikings are among the more available variants, though less common than copper. Collectors classify Civil War tokens by the Fuld numbering system, which catalogs each unique die combination with rarity ratings from R-1 (over 5,000 known) to R-10 (unique).

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. Overstrike varieties are generally scarcer than tokens struck on blank planchets, as they required sourcing and re-striking existing coins. With 1 cataloged varieties, W.A. Aicher was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 735A-1bo