(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-150AK-5A, IL

Coin Details

Description

Store card of Marsh & Miner in Chicago, Illinois, struck during the 1862-1864 token era. Chicago was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world by 1860, rapidly becoming America's railroad hub and grain trading center with a population of 112,000. The 11 cataloged varieties for Marsh & Miner indicate a notable level of token production. This copper striking (Fuld 150AK-5A) is common among the known varieties. Like the majority of Civil War store cards, this token is undated, produced during the acute 1862-1864 small change crisis. 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 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 11 cataloged varieties, Marsh & Miner was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 150AK-5A