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

Coin Details

Description

Merchant token from Martin Bro's of Detroit, Michigan, cataloged as Fuld 225AV-1A. As Michigan's commercial hub, Detroit generated more Civil War token varieties than any other city in the state, reflecting its diverse merchant community. Martin Bro's issued 5 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 225AV-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. 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

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 5 cataloged varieties, Martin Bro's was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 225AV-1A