(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-165DI-1A, OH

Coin Details

Description

R.T. Markham of Ohio issued this token as emergency currency during the Civil War. 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. With 2 known varieties, R.T. Markham produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 165DI-1A) is common for this merchant. 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. Private tokens entered circulation after the suspension of specie payments in late 1861 drained small change from commerce. Civil War store cards are collected both as numismatic items and as historical documents of wartime American commerce.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 2 cataloged varieties, R.T. Markham was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 165DI-1A