(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-165EA-3A, OH

Coin Details

Description

This Civil War token was issued by E. Myers & Co., operating in Cincinnati, Ohio. 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. E. Myers & Co. issued 9 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 165EA-3A) is common. 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 9 cataloged varieties, E. Myers & Co. was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165EA-3A