(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-140A-5A, IN

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of H. Linck, located in Brookville, Indiana. Indiana was an important agricultural and manufacturing state, with merchants producing store cards as emergency currency when federal coinage was hoarded. The 10 cataloged varieties for H. Linck indicate a notable level of token production. This copper striking (Fuld 140A-5A) is common among the known varieties. The absence of a date on this token is standard for the 1862-1864 era, when speed of production mattered more than formality. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. 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

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 10 cataloged varieties, H. Linck was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 140A-5A