(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-175C-15I, OH

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Cleveland, Ohio, cataloged as Fuld 175C-15I. Cleveland's position on Lake Erie made it a vital shipping hub for wartime goods, and its merchants participated actively in the Civil War token phenomenon. Struck in zinc, this die combination (Fuld 175C-15I) is scarce. 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. Zinc tokens corrode easily, and surviving examples in good condition are scarce. Many Civil War tokens survive in high grades because merchants and the public saved them as novelties, resulting in a better average preservation than contemporary federal coins.

Rarity Notes

Zinc strikings are relatively uncommon and prone to corrosion, making well-preserved examples particularly desirable. With 17 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 175C-15I