(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-225CI-2B, MI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Michigan, cataloged as Fuld 225CI-2B. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. Struck in brass, this die combination (Fuld 225CI-2B) is common to somewhat 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. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. The brass composition gives this token a warm golden tone that contrasts with the reddish-brown of copper strikings. The Fuld catalog documents thousands of distinct die combinations for Civil War store cards, making this one of the most complex series in American numismatics.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 1 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 225CI-2B