(No Date) Brass Civil War Store Card F-850B-1b, Souder & Carpenter's OH

Coin Details

Auction Record

$216 MS64RB 04-12-2023 Stack's Bowers

Description

Merchant token from Souder & Carpenter's of Ohio, cataloged as Fuld 850B-1b. Ohio produced more varieties of Civil War store cards than any other state, driven by Cincinnati's role as the largest inland city and a Union Army supply hub. The brass composition of this variety (Fuld 850B-1b) is common to somewhat scarce for this merchant. 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. Merchant-issued tokens circulated as substitutes for scarce federal coinage throughout the Northern states between 1862 and 1864. Brass strikings are among the more available variants, though less common than copper. 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

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

Cross References

Fuld 850B-1b