(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-165GO-8A, OH

Coin Details

Description

Merchant token from John Woessner's of Cincinnati, Ohio, cataloged as Fuld 165GO-8A. 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. The 14 cataloged varieties for John Woessner's indicate a notable level of token production. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 165GO-8A) is common. 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. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. George and Melvin Fuld's catalog remains the standard reference for Civil War tokens, with each variety assigned a unique identification number.

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 14 cataloged varieties, John Woessner's was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165GO-8A