(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-225AE-1A, MI

Coin Details

Description

F. Geis & Bro's of Michigan produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Michigan was a significant industrial state during the Civil War, with Detroit emerging as a major manufacturing center and merchants across the state producing tokens. F. Geis & Bro's issued 7 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 225AE-1A) is common for this merchant. 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 7 cataloged varieties, F. Geis & Bro's was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 225AE-1A