(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-225AS-3D, MI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Detroit, Michigan, cataloged as Fuld 225AS-3D. Detroit was Michigan's largest city and a major manufacturing center, producing stoves, railroad equipment, and industrial goods for the Northern war effort. The copper-nickel composition of this variety (Fuld 225AS-3D) is somewhat scarce 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. Copper-nickel strikings are moderately scarce, resembling the federal Indian Head cent in both size and color. 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-nickel strikings are moderately scarce compared to pure copper or brass versions. With 7 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 225AS-3D