(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-165A-2A, IN

Coin Details

Description

Store card of Gentrys in Centervill, Indiana, struck during the 1862-1864 token era. Indiana was an important agricultural and manufacturing state, with merchants producing store cards as emergency currency when federal coinage was hoarded. Gentrys issued 6 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 165A-2A) is common for this merchant. Undated Civil War tokens like this one circulated alongside dated issues during the 1862-1864 period. 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 6 cataloged varieties, Gentrys was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165A-2A