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

Coin Details

Description

W.C. McClenahan & Co. of Cincinnati issued this token as emergency currency during the Civil War coin shortage. Cincinnati was the largest inland city in antebellum America and a critical supply center for the Union Army, driving Ohio to produce more varieties of Civil War store cards than any other state. W.C. McClenahan & Co. issued 5 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. This copper striking (Fuld 165DL-1A) is common among the known varieties. 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.

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 5 cataloged varieties, W.C. McClenahan & Co. was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165DL-1A