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

Coin Details

Description

Merchant token from John Zeltner of Cincinnati, Ohio, cataloged as Fuld 165GY-8A. Cincinnati's position as a Union Army supply center and Ohio River trade hub made it a prolific source of Civil War tokens. John Stanton and other die sinkers based in the city produced dies for merchants across the Midwest. John Zeltner produced 39 cataloged die varieties, reflecting a substantial token operation. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 165GY-8A) is common. This undated token was struck circa 1862-1864 during the wartime coin shortage. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. Surviving specimens are tangible artifacts of the wartime monetary crisis that affected every commercial transaction in the Northern states.

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 39 cataloged varieties, John Zeltner was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165GY-8A