(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-165AA-3B, OH

Coin Details

Description

Commission Boots & Shoes of Ohio issued this Civil War store card during the 1862-1864 coin shortage. The breadth of Ohio's Civil War token production reflects the state's diverse economy, from Cincinnati's river trade to Cleveland's Lake Erie shipping to interior manufacturing towns. Commission Boots & Shoes issued 9 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. The brass composition of this variety (Fuld 165AA-3B) is common to somewhat scarce for this merchant. This undated piece entered commerce during the 1862-1864 period when millions of private tokens replaced vanished federal coinage. 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 brass composition gives this token a warm golden tone that contrasts with the reddish-brown of copper strikings.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 9 cataloged varieties, Commission Boots & Shoes was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165AA-3B