(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-165N-2G, OH

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of Dr. Bennett's, located 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. Dr. Bennett's produced 36 cataloged die varieties, reflecting a substantial token operation. This gold striking (Fuld 165N-2G) is extremely rare among the known varieties. 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. Gold strikings are among the rarest metal variants, produced in tiny quantities for presentation purposes.

Rarity Notes

Gold strikings of Civil War tokens are among the rarest of all metal variants, produced in tiny quantities for presentation purposes or the collector market. With 36 cataloged varieties, Dr. Bennett's was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165N-2G